Inspection Event of the Century

Voice of the Home Inspection Profession
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Inspector’s Quarterly
December 2005 | © International Association of Certified Home Inspectors | 32 pages
Inspection Event of the Century
2,500 Inspectors
92 Exhibitors
43 Educators
Orlando, FL
Feb 4- 8, 2006
Everyone Welcome
The Buena Vista Palace Resort, Lake
Buena Vista, Florida, will be the
National Association of Certified
Home Inspectors’ (NACHI) host
hotel for the inspection event of the
century. The hotel is conveniently
located in the heart of Walt Disney
Resort. Guests enjoy special privileges including complimentary transportation to all Disney theme parks
so you can leave and return to the
convention and your room whenever
you want. Universal Studios and Sea
World are also just minutes away.
Every industry exhibitor:
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House Facks
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HouseMaster
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IFREC Real Estate Schools
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Inspection Depot
•
Inspection Network
•
Inspection Training Associates
(ITA)
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InspectionWise
•
Inspector’s Quarterly
•
InspectorMall.com
•
InspectorSeek.com
•
InspectorSites.com
•
InspectWare
•
International Association of
Certified Home Inspectors
•
International Society of Home
Inspectors (ISHI)
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Linksys, MBNA and
NACHICredit
•
Merrell Institute
•
MGB Publications
•
Midwest Inspectors Institute
•
Mold Dogs
•
1st Inspection Services
•
3-D Inspection Systems
•
NACHIstore.com
•
24-7 Scheduler
•
NACHItools.com
•
Aerotech P&K Laboratories
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Allen Insurance
National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors
•
Alternate Dispute Resolution
Service
•
Nationwide Reinforcing
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Palm-Tech
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American Home Inspectors
Training Institute (AHIT)
•
Patriotic Home Inspections
•
American Home Laboratories
•
Porter Valley Software
•
America’s Recovery Network
•
PRO-Lab
•
Bacharach
•
QuanTEM Laboratories
•
Brenton Business Products
•
Radon Testing Corporation of
America (RTCA)
•
Brinks Home Security
•
ReportHost
•
Business Risk Partners/Capitol
Special Risks
•
Safe Home Systems
•
Center of the Sun
•
Safe House Campaign
•
S.O.S. Mold
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SpectoScope
•
Certified Adult Training Services (CATs)
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CMC Energy Services
•
Sun Nuclear Corporation
•
Digital Leveling Systems
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Target Insurance Services
•
eInspections
•
The Same Company
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EMSL AnalyticalAmerica’s
Recovery Network
•
The NACHI Foundation
THIS-Home.biz
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Environmental Education Foundation
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Unibind, Inc.
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Environmental Testing & Research Laboratories
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Whisper Computer Solutions
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...and many more!
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Family Safety Products
•
FindanInspector.us,
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FLIR Systems
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Florida Association of Professional Home Inspectors
(FAPHI)
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Florida Exhibit representing all
Florida inspection associations
•
FREA
•
Home Inspector Essentials,
•
HomeGauge,
The industry’s top three inspection
software companies – 3-D Inspection
Systems, HomeGauge and Porter
Valley Software – will be teaming up
for an Inspection Software Mini
Expo. This presentation is a must for
anyone considering an upgrade to
their reporting system.
Each exhibitor is offering a special
NACHI show price that cannot be
beat anywhere else. Don’t miss it.
An All-Star Lineup of
Speakers/Educators:
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Dr. Jason Dobranic and Scott
Van Etten of EMSL will be
conducting an IAQ/Industrial
Hygiene Sampling Workshop.
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David B. Leshner, President of
Mold Detection Services, Inc.,
on the benefits of using mold
dogs.
Craig Auberger, Senior Consultant with 1st Inspection Services,
on the seven lessons for the
home inspection business in the
next decade.
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Roberta Dulay, NACHI’s
Director of eServices on
search engine optimization for
home inspectors.
•
Steve Luxton of CMC Energy
Services on energy inspections.
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Bob Dwyer, Director of Training, Bacharach Institute of
Technical Training, on carbon
monoxide safety.
Dr. Bill C. Merrell, Director of
the Merrell Institute, on things
your home inspection school
forgot to teach you.
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Joe Ferry, Attorney, Real Estate Agent and NACHI’s General Counsel, on big inspection-industry-changing projects on the horizon.
Chris Morrell, NACHI’s IT
Director, will be conducting a
web class for home inspectors
(bring your laptop).
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Dr. Lionel J. Nowotny, Senior
Inspector Instructor of the
Leonard-Hawes, ITA Inspector School on inspection challenges.
•
Robert Pearson of Allen Insurance Group on managing your
risk as a home inspector..
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Michael Rowan, President of
Inspection Depot, on defect
recognition, report writing and
marketing for today’s home
inspections.
•
Barry Stangel, NACHI trainer
and Executive Director of Pest
Management Consulting &
Training Institute, on advanced inspecting techniques
for wood destroying insects.
•
Lorne Steiner, CEO of Porter
Valley Software, on advanced
communication skills for
home inspectors.
•
Dr. Keith Swift, President of
Porter Valley Software, will
be conducting a seminar on
advanced communications and
how to avoid litigation
•
Steve Jawitz, P.E., NACHI,
ASHI and FABI of All Building Inspection, Inc. on pools
and spas.
Bob Thompson and Steve
Morton of The Reinforcer on
foundation repair for bowing
walls and the use of their patented carbon fiber system.
•
Gary Johnson of the NACHI
Foundation on business plans
for home inspectors.
Stacy Van Houtan of Holmes
Inspection Company on roofing.
•
Bill Wright of SOS Mold on
basic mold for the inspector
and advanced mold – performing a mold assessment and
mold remediation.
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Rick Bates, CCI, CEI, REEW,
RIAQM, of Environmental Education Foundation, on what
every home inspector needs to
know about indoor air quality.
Gerry Beaumont, NACHI’s
National Education Consultant
and Education Director of Inspection Depot, on online continuing education for home inspectors.
John Bowman, Executive Director of NACHI, on the past, present and future of NACHI.
•
Bob Brown, Director of Certified Adult Training Services, on
advanced defect recognition for
home inspectors, foundations
and structures.
•
Russell Buchanan, President of
HomeGauge, on how to spot red
flags when inspecting.
•
Jeff Coffey, Coordinator, Community Partnering Program for
Disaster Preparedness, Partnership for Response & Recovery,
and of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA).
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Carl Fowler of 3-D Inspection
Systems on methods of organization for inspecting and
reporting.
•
Jim Gallant, NACHI member
and president of ReportHost,
on generating and delivering
your inspection reports online.
•
Andreas C. George of Radon
Testing Corporation of America on radon testing and certification.
•
Nick Gromicko, NACHI’s
Founder, veteran REALTOR
and ad agency owner on how
to raise your prices when your
competitors charge less, tips
for tweaking your home inspection website so it sells and
how to get your phone to ring
off the hook.
Dan Bowers, Education Director
& Senior Instructor of Professional Inspection Training Institute, on building codes for home
inspectors.
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Jeffrey D. Cohen, Esq., CPA,
NACHI Tax Attorney, on considerations in selecting and
forming an entity for your home
inspection business and operational issues.
Mark Cohen, NACHI/
InterNACHI Attorney, on an
ounce of prevention: how to not
get sued and what to do when
you get sued.
Tedd Cuttitta Jr., President of
HiTor Chimney Sweeps, Master
Sweep and member of the
Chimney Sweep Institute of
America, on inspecting chimneys, venting, fireplaces and
wood and gas burning appliances.
•
Douglas Hoffman of the National Organization of Remediators and Mold Inspectors
on mold free construction.
•
Russ Barry Hollingsworth of
America’s Recovery Network
on debt collection and recovery solutions.
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Kerry Kelly of American
Property Inspectors of Northwest Florida on stucco.
•
Brian Kraff of Market Hardware on how to land more
business from your website.
•
Kathleen A. Kuhn, President
& CEO of Housemaster, on
home inspection franchising.
•
Tom Lauhon of American
Residential Inspections and
Midwest Inspectors Institute
on techniques for home inspecting.
•
John Layzell, President of
Synergis Business Solutions,
on the six steps to massive
results in your inspection business.
Other convention highlights:
PRO-LAB and NACHI will be
giving away a 2006 Ford F-150 to a
NACHI member. the NACHI
Foundation will have Gary in the
dunking booth, NACHI’s mobile
education convoy, Super Bowl
Extravaganza, exhibitor café, golf
outing and $150,000 contest, Epcot
Tuesday, free nachos and the
Nachette twins.
Register today. Bring your spouses
just $50 and your kids are free!
www.nachi.org
Page 1
Stop Overpaying for E&O Insurance
Exclusive discount available direct, through online portal.
“It no longer makes
mathematical sense
for a home inspector to
be a non-NACHI
member”
After nearly a year of negotiations,
we have succeeded in securing an
E&O insurance program exclusively
for NACHI members. AIG, the
large, US-based insurer has an A.M.
Best rating of A++ Superior, the
highest rating, enjoyed by only 6.7%
of all insurers! Because of the unique
professionalism and expertise of the
NACHI membership, we were able to
negotiate improved terms and a substantial discount for this important
coverage. This is a proprietary product, available exclusively to NACHI
members, through our exclusive Broker, Towers Perrin and AIG.
NACHI members now have a portal
on nachi.org where they can review
policy forms and endorsements and
get an indication of premium. Then,
if you like what you see, you will
appoint Towers Perrin as your Broker
of Record and, through them, apply
for coverage online. In many cases,
members will receive an offer from
Towers Perrin to bind coverage
within a couple of days; in the vast
majority of cases, the total process
will take less than a week. The program is now available in California,
Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New
York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas,
and Virginia with other states and
Canada to follow quickly. Members
that reside in one of these states can
receive more information, an instant
estimation, and apply online by visiting www.nachi.org/eo.htm You will
need your members-only username
and password to access this system.
New announcements will be made
when the program is available in
additional states and provinces.
Many thanks to our attorney, Joe
Ferry, AIG and Towers Perrin for
developing this program. Our shared
goal is to meet your coverage needs
today, and also to accumulate data
and experience that will allow us, on
your behalf, to contribute to success
for our professional home inspectors.
Industry Analysis:
Several factors have been slowly but
steadily increasing the insured portion of the home inspection industry.
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The real protection E&O insurance provides home inspectors.
The number of real estate professionals who prefer and refer
insured home inspectors.
The marketing advantage that
can be exploited by the carrying
of E&O insurance .
The existence of potential clients who specifically seek out
insured home inspectors.
The trend by the media and
consumer advocates to tout insured home inspectors.
The insurance requirements
found in many existing and proposed home inspector licensing/
regulation.
According to Crittenden's, an insurance industry analyst, NACHI members pay about $1,600 less than other
home inspectors for $500,000 in
coverage.
Until now inconvenience and cost
have deterred many inspectors from
considering coverage. NACHI, with
this exclusive proprietary product,
improved endorsement selection
through our online portal, AIG... the
A++ Superior A.M. Best rating insurer, and substantial NACHI member discounts, is making E&O insurance inexpensive and painless for
members. This announcement is of
great benefit to North American inspectors, real estate professionals,
home buying consumers, and of
course NACHI. It is a win-win-winwin. Furthermore, with exclusive
NACHI discounts far greater than the
cost of NACHI membership, it just
no longer makes mathematical sense
for a home inspector to be a nonNACHI member.
NACHI is honored to be working
with Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm that helps organizations around the world optimize
performance through effective people, risk and financial management
for 70 years. Their clients include
three-quarters of the world’s 500
largest companies, three-quarters of
the Fortune 1000 U.S. companies,
and of course NACHI.
Towers
Perrin has over 8,000 employees and
78 offices in 24 countries.
American International Group, Inc.
(AIG), world leaders in insurance and
financial services, is the leading international insurance organization
with operations in more than 130
countries and jurisdictions. In the
United States, AIG companies are the
largest underwriters of commercial
and industrial insurance.
"The insurance industry has been
cautiously watching the home inspection industry for years. These insurance companies have a lot at
risk. They weren't going to give just
any association an exclusive discount. Of course I can brag about
NACHI members all day long, but
having a global, best rated insurance
company bet on NACHI with their
own money... well that says everything about NACHI. I am very proud
that insurance actuaries have finally
come to conclude what I've known all
along: NACHI members and only
NACHI members deserve to pay
much less because NACHI members
are the best home inspectors in the
world,"
said Nick Gromicko,
NACHI’s Founder.
www.nachi.org/eo.htm
Inspection Depot Licenses Illustrations to NACHI
NACHI and Inspection Depot Inc.
have announced an agreement that
allows NACHI to use 2,000-plus
home inspection training illustrations
from Inspection Depot’s industryacclaimed, The Illustrated Home
Inspection Guide™, as part of
NACHI’s on-line member education
program.
NACHI’s Education Director, Gerry
Beaumont, said “I am thrilled that
Inspection Depot and its president,
Michael Rowan, have agreed to the
terms of a license for NACHI to use
these digital images on our Web site
for educational purposes. They are all
full-color and are the only images of
that quality in our industry. I know
that our members will benefit greatly
from the use of these images.”
Inspection Depot’s Michael Rowan
said “After spending over two years
in researching, refining and building
our series of training illustrations for
home inspectors, we are pleased to
see that even more home inspectors
across the country will benefit from
the high training standards to which
Inspection Depot aspires. That
NACHI has recognized these high
standards and wishes to incorporate
them into its own on-line education
programs is a welcome accolade. I
know the entire home inspection
industry will be better for the effort.
And for individual home inspectors,
the professional education and technical insights that can be derived
from just studying the illustrations
are immense. Inspectors, Realtors
and customers alike will reap longterm benefits from this licensing
agreement.”
Inspection Depot has also agreed to
give NACHI members a 10% dis-
Michael Rowan is teaching at
NACHI’s Convention (see page 1).
These high quality images will be
used in the popular Tip of the Day
feature on NACHI’s Home Web
Page, and will also be used as the
header image in all of NACHI’s future on-line education courses.
Free Avoiding Litigation CD
Nothing can stop litigation, but sometimes it can be avoided.
As we all know, litigation is threatening the livelihood of inspectors nationwide, and they can never be too
cautious!
For this reason, Porter Valley Software’s president, Keith Swift, who
has performed literally thousands of
home inspections, has written a number of informative essays on the subject of avoiding litigation. Many of
these have been published in various
trade journals throughout the United
States. They are interesting and educational and, among other things,
they point out the weakness inherent
in industry standards and contracts,
and the ultimate power of possessing
a computerized report-writer, and of
NACHI’s Code of Ethics
The National Association of Certified
Home Inspectors (NACHI) promotes
a high standard of professionalism,
business ethics and inspection procedures. NACHI members subscribe to
the following Code of Ethics in the
course of their business.
1. Duty to the Public
1. The NACHI member shall abide
by the Code of Ethics and substantially follow the NACHI Standards of
Practice.
2. The NACHI member will not
engage in any practices that could be
damaging to the public or bring discredit to the home inspection industry.
3. The NACHI member shall be
fair, honest, impartial, and act in
good faith in dealing with the public.
2. The NACHI member will not
discriminate in any business activities
on the basis of race, color, religion,
sex, national origin, familial status,
sexual orientation, or handicap and
shall comply with all federal, state
and local laws concerning discrimination.
Page 2
4. The NACHI member shall be
truthful regarding his/her services &
qualifications.
5. The NACHI member will have
no undisclosed conflict of interest
with the client, nor will the NACHI
member accept or offer any undisclosed commissions, rebates, profits,
or other benefit.
6. The NACHI member will not
communicate any information about
an inspection to anyone except the
client without the prior written consent of the client, except where it
may affect the safety of others or
violates a law or statute.
7. The NACHI member shall always act in the interest of the client,
unless doing so violates a law, statute, or this Code of Ethics.
8. The NACHI member shall use a
written contract that specifies the
services to be performed, limitations
of services, and fees.
9. The NACHI member shall comply with all government rules and
licensing requirements of the jurisdiction where he/she conducts business.
11. The NACHI member shall not
perform or offer to perform, for an
additional fee, any repairs or associated services to structure on which
the member or member's company
has prepared a home inspection report, for a period of 12 months. This
provision shall not include services to
components and/or systems which
are not included in the NACHI standards of practice.
2. Duty to Continue Education
1. The NACHI member will comply with NACHI's current Continuing
Education Requirements.
2. The NACHI member shall pass
the NACHI's Online Inspector Exam
once every calendar year.
3. Duty to the Profession
and NACHI
1. The NACHI member will strive
to improve the Home Inspection Industry by sharing his/her lessons and/
or experiences for the benefit of all.
This does not preclude the member
from copyrighting or marketing his/
her expertise to other Inspectors or
the public in any manner permitted
by law.
count on any orders placed for this
series, and will also make additional
discounts available to NACHI members on other products.
2. The NACHI member shall assist
the NACHI leadership in disseminating and publicizing the benefits of
NACHI membership.
3. The NACHI member will not
engage in any act or practice that
could be deemed damaging, seditious, or destructive to NACHI, fellow NACHI members, NACHI employees, leadership or directors.
Member(s) accused of acting or
deemed in violation of such rules
shall be reviewed by the Ethics committee for possible sanctions and/or
expulsion from NACHI.
Questions and comments should be
directed to Joe Farsetta, Ethics and
Standard of Practice Committee
Chairperson, at jjf10965@yahoo.com
This document is subject to change
without notice.
Check
www.nachi.org frequently for
changes.
www.nachi.org/code_of_ethics
www.InspectorSEEK.com
(free listing for NACHI members)
having immediate access to a library
of thousands of industry-standard
narratives. However, there are many
other interesting discussions involving the use of specialized instruments, as well as the power of the
plain truth and the written word! We
at Porter Valley regard ourselves as
part of a growing family of users, and
take pride in the fact that we put service to our clients ahead of profits,
which is why we are offering this
collection of twelve essays to NACHI
members for free. We sell these on
our website for $35.00, however we
don't charge NACHI members. They
can request their copy for free.
This is a NACHI-exclusive free offer
made to no other association or
group. To order your free CD visit:
www.pvsoftware.com/nachi.htm
Can you guess what all
these have in common?
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Inspected once, inspected right
Anyone else is just looking
around
The right inspector, right away
HI Experience
Certified Master Inspector
Inspector's Quarterly
REAL Property Times
Certified Mold Inspector
Certified Professional Inspector
Certified Residential Inspector
Certified Home Inspector
Report generation for a new
generation
CRI
CMI
InterNACHI
They are all NACHI/InterNACHI
controlled Trademarks.
Did you know that over 100 local
NACHI Chapters have their own
Chapter websites? NACHI’s average chapter meeting attendance is
over 85.
NACHI websites are used to promote local NACHI inspectors in
their own neighborhoods.
www.nachi.org/events.htm
Inspector’s Quarterly
December 2005
PUBLISHER
Nick Gromicko
MANAGING EDITOR
Aimee Jalowsky
COPY EDITOR
Christine Fischer
DESIGNER
Lisa Endza
LEAD REPORTER
Krystal Wright
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
James Bushart
DISTRIBUTION
Kay Drauer
ACCOUNTING
Deanna Willis
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Gerry Beaumont
John Bowman
Erby Crofutt
Roberta Dulay
Joe Farsetta
Gary Johnson
Bruce Kirby
Paul Sabados
Russell Spriggs
Lorne Steiner
HEAD EDITOR
Erik T. Thoop
For information about advertising
and circulation email
gromicko@nachi.org
Inspector’s
Quarterly is published 5 times a year.
Yes, we know that’s not quarterly.
The InterNational Association of
Certified Home Inspectors
(InterNACHI)
1750 30th Street #301
Boulder, CO 80301
Subscribe by sending $29 along with
your mailing address to:
“InterNACHI”
I.Q. Subscription
1750 30th Street #301
Boulder, CO 80301
Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Inspector’s Quarterly, or InterNACHI.
Entire contents are copyright ©2005
by InterNACHI. No part can be reproduced in any form without written
consent of the Publisher.
InterNACHI
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Belarus
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Dominican Rep.
Fiji
Finland
France
Guam
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Mexico
New Zealand
Poland
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Ukraine
UK
Membership in NACHI gives home
inspectors automatic membership
in InterNACHI. InterNACHI is a
non-profit 501 (c ) 6 Corporation
based in Boulder, Colorado.
Maintain your
Contact Info on
4,500 Websites
NACHI members can edit their own
contact information and personal
market areas on all NACHI-owned
websites at once, anytime and as
often as they like.
Over 93 Million Hits
NACHI.org is one of internet's most popular sites
With millions of hits per month (not even including lead generators) NACHI.org is not just the inspection industry's
most popular website by far, it is also one of the most popular websites on the internet. Below is NACHI’s traffic and
usage summary. Data for January is unavailable as NACHI was switching to it’s new giant server cluster.
This easy-to-use editor allows members to change such things as their
company name, address (not made
public), phone number, fax number,
email address, website, and zip/postal
codes served (yes, it is Canadianfriendly).
There is no limit to the number of
times you can edit your profile and
zip/postal code service areas. Profile
changes take effect instantly and
simultaneously on all NACHI sites
including:
www.InspectorSEEK.com
and
Summary by Month
www.FindAnInspector.us
Daily Avg
and
Month
Hits
Files
Monthly Totals
VisPages
its
Sites
KBytes
Visits
Pages
Files
Hits
www.InspectorLocator.com Sep 05
306189 126665 23087 4308 76579
66325509
129259
692639
3799967
9185687
Aug 05
307335 137437 23082 4428 93771
72052047
137284
715553
4260566
9527397
Jul 05
259522 115078 20594 4288 70355
67992984
132951
638438
3567425
8045208
Jun 05
268391 120175 21227 4202 70331
54085840
126073
636822
3605258
8051738
May 05
298197 128648 21276 4321 73363
55435607
133960
659557
3988117
9244124
Apr 05
317969 142450 27191 4998 79638
62669347
149962
815734
4273508
9539093
Mar 05
301723 152500 29005 5263 110794
69467302
163170
899159
4727501
9353429
Feb 05
331838 160236 31265 4820 74911
69281372
134977
875443
4486630
9291465
The member-controlled profile editor
is another step toward giving members greater and faster control of their
online market presence.
You can also enter as many as 20 zip
codes or postal codes that you most
want to work in. Over 4,500 sites
will automatically be modified to get
you more work in those areas.
To edit your contact information on
4,500 websites instantly visit:
Data Unavailable
www.nachi.org/profileintro.htm
NACHI’s Membership
in Florida Tops 1,100
NACHI’s membership in the state
of Florida recently topped the 1,100
mark, making NACHI larger in
Florida than all other inspection
associations combined.
NACHI
has eight chapters in Florida, a state
association in Florida, a sister association in Florida, our President is a
Florida home inspector and our
annual convention (see page 1) is
held in Florida.
NACHI is also the largest inspection association in the U.S. and the
world.
Missouri Approves NACHI
as a Certifying Body
Dec 04 243536 116435 21238 3425 60517
57286982
106196
658394
3609514
7549634
Nov 04 244349 116447 22291 3301 55713
45849070
99038
668755
3493437
7330470
667859398 1407327
7793035
Totals
42936856 93753926
NACHI Member Lands 200 New Construction Inspections
By Aimee Jalowsky
At this year’s 2005 NACHI Annual
Convention, I had the pleasure of
meeting with NACHI member, Peter
Boorman, and Stephen Ball, a mortgage broker and licensed REALTOR
in Florida. Stephen is from England
and has been in the states for 20 years
and works closely with overseas buyers to insure the house they purchase
is structurally sound. “Living overseas,” Stephen explains, “the buyers
sometimes do not even see the house
before the closing is done.” Peter is
very familiar with this scenario, Dennis McGrath, home buyer, had Peter
inspect his new home, the day after
the closing. Needless to say the house
needed some major repairs, luckily,
the contractor agreed to fix it all.
After Dennis' headache was over, he
told Peter, “I'll never buy another
home without first having it inspected.”
Stephen Ball commented that “In
England, the impression among home
buyers is that an inspection is equal
to an appraisal. This is not accurate.
The question is how to ensure future
home buyers get a certified inspector
to inspect their homes. The answer
lies in Peter Boorman's upcoming
project. An undisclosed builder has
agreed to use Peter to inspect his 200
new properties on three parcels in
Florida. This builder feels that having
them inspected first will allow the
opportunity to fix anything needed
The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) recently approved NACHI as a certifying body for home inspectors.
The MHDC is the state of Missouri’s housing finance agency.
before the buyer moves into the
home.
Having a house inspected before the
walls are built is a great idea especially for people building their own
home. This helps to detect any improper wiring and other problems that
are difficult to find once the walls go
up. Stephen considers this to be a
proactive move on the part of the
home builder. With the knowledge
that as long as an inspection is performed before the closing and by a
certified inspector, the overseas home
buyer will have a much better home
buying experience while working
with professionals such as Stephen
Ball and Peter Boorman.
Governor of North Dakota
Signs NACHI Friendly Home
Inspection Legislation into Law
On April 14th, 2005 the Governor of North
Dakota signed into law NACHI-supported legislation which registers home inspectors. In
addition to other requirements, home inspectors
must also pass an exam which is offered by
(among others) NACHI. NACHI thanks member Dean Foell for his work in getting this sensible legislation signed into law.
At the time this issue of I.Q. went
to press, NACHI had certified 132
home inspectors in Missouri.
NACHI is the largest provider of
continuing education offerings for
home inspectors in Missouri.
Coming soon… NACHI sponsored race car.
Page 3
A Great Addition
to your Brochure
The following is something you
could add to the inside of your
brochure. It is a promise. Include
a head-shot pic of yourself looking
straight into the camera above the
promise. Also add your signature
on a slight angle below it. Few
will actually read the promise word
for word, but the message will be
conveyed none the less.
ur
Yo
Pic
My Promise to You
Choosing the right home
inspector can be difficult. Unlike
most professionals, you probably
will not get to meet me until after
you hire me. Furthermore, different inspectors have varying
qualifications, equipment, experience, reporting methods, and yes,
different pricing. One thing for
sure is that a home inspection
requires work, a lot of work. Ultimately a thorough inspection
depends heavily on the individual
inspector’s own effort. If you
honor me by permitting me to
inspect your new home, I guarantee that I will give you my very
best effort. This I promise you.
Convert Every Call into a Scheduled Inspection
By Nick Gromicko
I spend a lot on marketing
to get my phone to ring.
Callers often ask me how
much I charge. Then after
I tell them, they say
“thanks” and hang up.
What can I do to get them
to hire me?
The home inspection business is different than nearly every other business in that you don’t meet your client until after they hire you.
This business is almost all marketing
(getting your phone to ring) and almost no sales (converting a phone
call into a scheduled inspection).
The only time you get to sell yourself
is when the phone rings. You’ve
probably done a lot of marketing to
get your phone to ring. Don’t have it
all go to waste when the phone
rings… convert every call into a
scheduled inspection.
Here are some tips to converting:
1. At the tone, please hang up and
call my competitor.
Make sure someone who can convert
or sell is actually answering your
business phone. If your potential
customers are reaching voice mail, an
answering service, or an untrained
employee or spouse… you are probably not converting many of them into
clients. Real estate agreements limit
the amount of time a buyer has to
schedule an inspection. Buyers don’t
have time to leave a message. Try
having your calls forwarded to your
cell phone and answer them yourself.
Many inspectors refuse to allow their
cell phone to interrupt them on an
inspection. I think this is a mistake.
The client you are performing the
inspection for is already sold. His
money is in the bank. The customer
calling you, trying to schedule, is
new money. Get that new money.
When I first went into the inspection
business I had two cell phones. I had
one for new business. All my ads,
flyers, brochures, etc. contained this
phone number. If it rang it was most
likely new business. I kept this
phone with me on my inspections and
always answered it. I had another
phone for everything else. On my
home inspection report I would include this second phone number (not
my new business number). That
way, if my client had a question they
would call my second number and
leave my first number free for new
business.
Upon meeting a new client for the
first time (on an inspection) I would
ask "If my cell phone rings during the
inspection, would you mind if I answer it?" Nearly all my clients gave
me permission to answer my cell
phone during the inspection. Because
I only carried my new business cell
phone with me on the inspection,
calls that interrupted an inspection
were new business.
NACHI-DUKA chapter
building gets new
NACHI sign.
Page 4
An added benefit: During a home
inspection, your client is still sizing
you up so to speak. Your client is
wondering if they hired the right
inspector. I’m sure many of my clients thought "Gee, this Nick guy
looks too fat to fit in the crawl
space." Having your cell phone ring
during an inspection shows your
client that others seek your services
and that you are in demand. If someone calls you who is not new business just explain that you are in the
middle of an inspection and will call
them back. If your wife calls you to
bring home a gallon of milk, just tell
her in front of your client "I’d love to
do that inspection for you, let me call
you back." But of course if it is new
business… book it!
2. I am the town’s worst inspector
and I charge less to prove it.
"Hello, I’m looking to get a home
inspection.
How much do you
charge?" You’ve probably received
calls like this before. Forgive them.
Most buyers have been pricing
homes, shopping mortgage rates,
calculating payments, and adding up
closing costs. By the time they call
for a home inspection, they have
"how much ?" on their minds. Here’s
how to handle it… don’t answer the
question. Answer the questions they
should be asking. Tell them why you
are the best home inspector. Make
the list long. Your qualifications are
not as important as how many you
have, so bust up your qualifications
into many others. For instance, don’t
just say you are a member of
NACHI. Say "I am a member in good
standing of the National Association
of Certified Home Inspectors, the
world’s largest home inspection association. I pass NACHI’s Inspector
Examination at least once a year. I
have taken NACHI’s Standards of
Practice Quiz. I have completed a
NACHI’s Code of Ethics Course. I
have a signed affidavit on file with
NACHI. I follow a Standards of
Practice. I abide by a Code of Ethics.
I fulfill 18 hours of continuing education each year…" Throw in anything
else about yourself that you can like
"I am local and live here in… I recently took a course on… I attended
NACHI’s seminar on… I carry insurance… I work on Saturdays… My
reports are generated in… I use a
SureTest electrical meter when
checking… My good standing can be
verified by visiting FindanInspector.US… I have performed…" When
I was in business I had a chalk board
above my phone with my list of reasons to hire Nick on it. You should
also develop your own script. Ask
the caller if they have a pen and paper first. Then give the list slowly, as
if you are expecting them to write it
down. They will. And when you are
done they will end up with a list of
reasons to hire you in their own handwriting. "Wow, I’m glad I called
you, but how much do you charge for
a home inspection?" If they ask
again, ask them a question back. Ask
"How much does the property list
for?" Note: I always ask how much a
property lists for rather than how
much they are paying for it. List
price is public information, whereas
contract price isn’t until after the
closing. The caller will think you
have some sort of formula whereby
your pricing is based on the price of
the home. It may be, but that is not
the purpose of asking them what they
are paying for the home. The purpose of asking them how much the
house costs is to get them to say the
price. Force them to say it out loud.
Then repeat it back incorrectly so
they have to correct you and repeat
the price again. The purpose is to
highlight the drastic relative difference between the amount the product
you’re inspecting (the home) and the
amount you are charging above your
competitors. The following is a sample conversation:
PHONE RINGS.
Caller: "Hold on. OK. I have a pen
and paper. Go ahead."
Caller: "OK. I’ll talk to you in a bit."
Inspector: "OK, I’m faxing it now."
Inspector: "Well, I’m a member in
good standing of the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.
I pass NACHI’s Home Inspector
Examination at least once a year. I
have taken NACHI’s Standards of
Practice Quiz. I have completed
NACHI’s Code of Ethics Course. I
have a signed affidavit on file with
NACHI. I follow a Standards of
Practice. I abide by a Code of Ethics.
I fulfill 18 hours of continuing education each year. I am locally owned
and operated. I am available on Saturdays. I just attended NACHI’s
seminar on mold.
I carry
$500,000.00 worth of Error and
Omissions insurance. I own and use
a variety of meters such as a SureTest
electrical meter, a natural gas leak
detector and a digital carbon monoxide detector. I have performed over
400 home inspections. I have been in
business for over three years. I have a
strong construction background. I
own a Spectoscope. I produce your
report on-site, and I will do a very
thorough job for you.
Caller: "Wow. It looks like I found
the right inspector. But how much do
you charge?"
Inspector: "Well, how much does the
house your buying list for?"
Caller: "Two hundred forty nine
thousand five hundred dollars." (The
caller is thinking: "he must have a
formula").
Inspector: "Two hundred forty five
thousand nine hundred dollars?" (Intentionally repeat it back to
the caller incorrectly).
Caller: "No, not two hundred forty
five thousand nine hundred dollars,
two hundred forty nine thousand five
hundred dollars."
At this point you should fax the caller
a page that lists all your qualifications again, your promise, your
NACHI Certificate of membership,
your flyer, and a bunch of letters of
reference, provided you have procured these from past clients. Note:
You should always ask former clients
for a written, even scribbled, letter of
reference. Request them from your
former clients by mail and include a
postage-paid envelope. Don’t stop
faxing until you run out of reference
letters or the phone rings.
PHONE RINGS.
Caller: "You can stop faxing. I really
want to hire you."
Inspector: "OK, the next page coming
thru is my bid."
3. The tone of my voice should tell
you that I don’t want your inspection.
Potential customers use their senses
to make snap judgments about home
inspectors. Over the phone the customer can’t see you but can only
hear. You have no ability to communicate your professionalism and enthusiasm visually. You only have
your voice.
Tips for improving your voice:
· Record your script (mentioned
above) and listen to yourself. Ask
other people to listen to it as well.
· Hang a mirror near your script and
look into it when you answer the
phone. Use the mirror to make sure
you are smiling. Smiles can be sent
through the phone line.
· Stand up when you answer the
phone. You’ll sound more energetic.
Inspector: "Oh, two hundred forty
nine thousand five hundred dollars?"
· Modulate your voice pleasantly.
Try to get some resonance.
Caller: "Yes, two hundred forty nine
thousand five hundred dollars."
· Try to sound as though you're happy
the caller called.
Inspector: "Wow.
Two hundred forty nine thousand five
hundred dollars is a lot of money.
(No matter what a buyer is paying for
a home, it is always a lot of money
for them). You’d better pay the extra
$85 I charge above and beyond my
competitors and go with me.
· Give your phone number or website
address s l o w l y, and repeat it
twice.
Caller: "So you charge more than
your competitors?"
Inspector: "Yes. On average I charge
about $85 more than my competitors.
It will be the best $85 dollars you
ever spent. Of course if you want a
cheap inspector I know who my
cheapest competitors are. I would be
happy to refer you to them, and of
course you can save even more
money by waiving the inspection.
That would be free."
Caller: "No. I am spending a lot of
money on this home and I want a
good inspection. If you are only $85
more than your competitors, I don’t
mind paying a little extra. However,
how much do you charge?"
Inspector: "Do you have a fax number? I can fax you a proposal right
now."
Caller: "Hi. I’m looking to hire a
home inspector. How much do you
charge?"
Caller: "Yes. Fax it to (123) 4567890.
Inspector: "I’d love to perform a
home inspection for you. Do you
have a pen and paper?"
Inspector: "OK. I’ll fax it now.
When you get it call me back and
we’ll schedule the inspection.
And finally: When someone calls, it
is no time to be shy. If you provide a
good home inspection service you
have an ethical duty to allow as many
of your fellow citizens as possible to
enjoy the benefits of your good
works. Convert!
WorldPoints®
Platinum Plus®
Credit Card
The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors Foundation
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FEMA and the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office Join the
NACHI Safe House Campaign
The United States Fire Administration, part of the Federal Emergency
Management Administration
(FEMA), the Maryland State Fire
Marshal's Office, the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors
(NACHI), and the NACHI Foundation (a registered charity) have
teamed up to create a national safety
awareness program, The NACHI Safe
House Campaign.
The NACHI Safe House Campaign
was kicked off on March 20, 2004
with the NACHI Foundation's donation of smoke alarms for the hearing
impaired. The special alarms, retailing at over $150 each, were given to
needy families. The event was done
in partnership with the Maryland
State Fire Marshal’s Office and their
planned Spring Into Action Day.
Some facts:
"Our plans include creating a fire
safety inspection training for our
members, creating a home safety
training class to take to the communities, a home safety checklist for our
inspectors, and NACHI's Occupant
Hazard Recognition Primer," said
Daniel R. Frend, Director of the
NACHI Safe House Campaign.
Each year fire kills more people in
the US than all natural disasters combined. At least 80% of all fire deaths
occur in residences. In 2001, not
counting the events of September 11,
fire caused $10.6 billion in direct
property loss. Seniors over 65 and
children under 5 have the greatest
risk. A working smoke alarm doubles
the chances of surviving, yet 52% of
fire fatalities were in homes with NO
Smoke alarms.
The Campaign also just released a
thirty second Public Service Announcement by radio personality
Johnny Contino. Mr. Contino then
donated his fee, less union dues, back
to the NACHI Foundation. This
PSA, to be played on radio stations
around the country, encourages people to check the batteries in their
smoke alarms.
For more information on the campaign or for information on how to
make fully tax deductible donations
to this project visit:
www.nachifoundation.org
Take the Free Online Inspector Ethics Obstacle Course
Everyone is invited to take
NACHI’s free online Ethics Obstacle Course for home inspectors.
This course is an open book test of
your knowledge and understanding
of ethics. Its purpose is to encourage our members to read and understand the Code of Ethics.
The course is free and open to all
(you need not be a member of
NACHI). There is no registration
necessary.
There is no scoring. You either
cross the finish line or you
don't. Reaching the finish line
proves you have successfully completed the Ethics Obstacle Course.
There is no time limit. Take your
time.
some questions incorrectly may
move you back several questions. You can reference NACHI's
Code of Ethics at any time during
the course by scrolling down.
There is no limit to the number of
times you can attempt the obstacle
course. Take it as often as you like.
We understand that a scored ethics
quiz is silly as an unethical inspector wouldn't answer the questions
honestly anyway, but rather answer
the questions in order to pass.
To begin simply go through the
obstacle course answering the hypothetical questions as best as you
can. If you answer incorrectly, you
will be moved back one question
and will have to answer it again
until you get it right. Answering
Everyone is welcome to take the
free online Ethics Obstacle Course
at:
www.nachi.org/ethicsobstaclecourse
NACHI’s Hong Kong China Chapter
NACHI is pleased to announce the
formation of a Hong Kong Chapter.
NACHI member Paul Li and his
company, Civil Asset Management
& Planning, Limited, have provided a suitable platform for
NACHI to operate from in Hong
Kong and mainland China.
Paul is a chartered professional
civil engineer (Institution of Civil
Engineers), a professional builder
(Chartered Institution of Buildings), a certified risk planner
(Institution of Crisis and Risk Management), a certified home inspector (National Association of Certified Home Inspectors), and President of the Hong Kong Chapter of
NACHI.
Hong Kong is a miracle place.
99% of the people there are living
in apartment flats where the built-in
building services configuration is
relatively complicated. However,
most of them have never had a
home inspection or realize the paramount importance of home inspec-
tion prior to completion of their
transaction.
NACHI is the only independent professional body
in China that provides
technical support and
qualified certification for
local inspectors.
What Really Matters
By Nick Gromicko
Buying a home? The process can be
stressful. A home inspection is supposed to give you peace of mind, but
often has the opposite effect. You
will be asked to absorb a lot of information in a short time. This often
includes a written report, checklist,
photographs, environmental reports,
and what the inspector himself says
during the inspection. All this combined with the seller's disclosure and
what you notice yourself makes the
experience even more overwhelming.
What should you do?
Relax. Most of your inspection will
be maintenance recommendations,
life expectancies and minor imperfections. These are nice to know about.
However, the issues that really matter
will fall into four categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
NACHI, the National Association
of Certified Home Inspectors has
formally requested that RE/MAX
pull one of its TV ads.
No home is perfect. Keep things in
perspective. Don't kill your deal over
things that don't matter. It is inappropriate to demand that a seller address
deferred maintenance, conditions
already listed on the seller's disclosure, or nit-picky items.
The above is an excerpt from Sell
Your Home For More by Nick
Gromicko. Copyright (C) 1997 Nick
Gromicko
Note: NACHI Members may use this
and other NACHI articles royalty
free and need not credit the author. Add it to your brochure and
website! REALTORs may copy, reprint, and use this article as they
wish.. It is a great addition to any
REALTOR’s buyer's packets.
•
The ad depicts a spotlight-operating
RE/MAX agent in a RE/MAX
balloon hovering over her client's
house in the middle of the
night. She is yelling down to her
clients good news: That they can
close on the house they are trying
to buy because it "just passed inspection."
NACHI objects because the ad
insinuates:
•
•
•
Mr. NACHI (a horse) raced to
benefit Conquering Cancer, a 501
(c) 3 non-profit charity that grants
wishes for cancer patients.
Mr. NACHI placed (came in 2nd).
Most sellers are honest and are often
surprised to learn of defects uncovered during an inspection. Realize
that sellers are under no obligation to
repair everything mentioned in the
report.
NACHI Asks RE/MAX to Pull TV Ad
We congratulate President Paul Li
on his forming of the Hong Kong
Chapter of NACHI.
The race was held at Bold Controls
Warehouse, 2750 Faith Industrial
Drive, Suite 300, Buford, GA.
Major defects. An example of
this would be a structural failure.
Things that lead to major defects. A small roof-flashing
leak, for example.
Things that may hinder your
ability to finance, legally occupy, or insure the home.
Safety hazards, such as an exposed, live buss bar at the electric panel.
Anything in these categories should
be addressed. Often a serious problem can be corrected inexpensively to
protect both life and property
(especially in categories 2 and 4).
•
that a home inspector can pass
or fail a home. Home inspectors don't pass or fail homes
and we don't want consumers
to think otherwise.
that the home inspection process is arranged by the real
estate agent. Home buyers are,
of course, free to hire any
home inspector they desire.
that an inspection can be completed in the middle of
the night. Home inspectors
cannot accommodate a buyer's
schedule by performing inspections in the dark.
that the home buyer didn't
know when the inspection was
scheduled and didn't attend. Buyers are regularly
encouraged to attend home
•
•
inspections and more often
than not, do attend.
that an agent's commission is
directly tied to the results of a
home inspection report. The
over-joyed real estate agent
depicted in the ad actually
mentions the home inspection
passing in the same sentence
with the closing being able to
go through. This reinforces
the unfortunate conflict-ofinterest real estate agents possess with respect to their commissions.
that real estate agents are
qualified to offer their clients
condensed versions of a home
inspector's report.
that real estate agents can predetermine the buyer's response
to the findings of the home
inspector.
Nick Gromicko, Founder of
NACHI and former RE/MAX agent
himself said "The ad has many
insinuations to which we object. It
delivers numerous false messages
to the home-buying consumers."
NACHI has offered to provide
comment on all planned RE/MAX
advertising campaigns in the future. "This ad is not salvageable. It has to go," said Gromicko.
NACHI is the world's largest home
inspection association.
A Marketing Idea that Helps Others
Atlanta area home inspector Mike
Rose recently announced his plans
for a new company strategy to market
his company and raise funds for the
NACHI Foundation.
Director of HUD Speaks at NACHI Meeting
Bob Bolton, Director of HUD, speaks to 85 inspectors on How NACHI members can get HUD Inspections at NACHI's California Capitol Chapter meeting.
Mike, owner of Cornerstone Home
Inspections, has decided to create a
referral incentive program for his
customers.
Customers will be asked to refer his
company to family and friends.
Rather than the traditional practice of
offering them cash or gift incentives,
Mike has pledged to make a donation
to the NACHI Foundation in their
name. Mike believes this program
will allow his customers the opportunity to help better their community
by simply referring him.
Contact info@nachifoundation for
information about becoming a
Foundation booster
We thank Mike for his support of the
NACHI Foundation. We welcome
any supporters who wish to come up
with their own innovative ways to
support the NACHI Foundation.
NACHI member Joe Farsetta was
the guest speaker on CNN’s Open
House program on Saturday March
26th. Congratulations Joe!
NACHI on CNN
Page 5
NACHI Dominates the Internet
Nowadays home buyers do their real estate shopping online.
NACHI solidifies its
market control of the
internet.
NACHI recently purchased over
1,400 more websites.
Each site has been converted to a
home inspector search engine for
NACHI members. These are actual
separate websites, not just domain
names pointing to NACHI. Each
website interlinks to all the others
making them all rank higher on other
internet search engines. Many are
covert (no mention of NACHI).
Canadian members.
"Inspectors
outside of NACHI can waste their
money building their own websites I
suppose, but they won't get much
traffic buried under all the NACHI
lead generators. Our member's contact information is promoted on the
internet even if they don't have a
website," said Gromicko, a former
REALTOR. "And all the home buyers are all online nowadays," added
Gromicko.
NACHI now has a designated website or web page for every single city
and town in the U.S. and Canada.
NACHI also entered into contracts
with Google.com, Verizon and SuperPages.com to feed inspection
leads directly to the nearest NACHI
member.
NACHI also recently released a
member-controlled profile editor
which permits members to carve-out
their own market using zip/postal
codes.
The Internet has become the tool of
choice for homebuyers, with nearly
three-quarters of buyers logging on to
search for houses, new industry figures show. That's up sharply from
the 41 percent of buyers who went
online just two years ago when looking for a house, according to the 2003
National Association of Realtors'
Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
In 2004, NACHI entered into an intent-to-purchase agreement with one
of the nation's largest domainsquatting company with the intent to
convert some 45,000+ domain names
to NACHI member lead generators. Gromicko said "Our goal is to
own one million NACHI member
lead generators."
"Almost every home placed on the
market today can be found on the
Internet, and more buyers than ever
are using the Web to search for a
home," said NAR Past-President
Cathy Whatley.
"Nowadays home buyers do their real
estate shopping online. We want to
make sure a NACHI inspection is in
their shopping cart," said NACHI’s
Nick Gromicko "It is too expensive for the individual inspector to
advertise enough to have his clients
find him. It is much easier for
NACHI to find clients for our inspectors."
NACHI, which dominates the internet with multi-million hit-per-month
m o n s t e r
s i t e s
l i ke
www.FindAnInspector.US,
www.InspectorLocator.com and
www.InspectorSEEK.com, is the
world's largest inspection association
and the largest generator of leads for
the home inspection industry.
"Search engines treat domain names
and portions thereof differently than
they treat text or meta-tags. Despite
a domain name often being the combination of more than one word. such
as nachipugetsound.org, Google for
instance, automatically splits up the
search to be equivalent to nachi puget
sound. A full state or province name
followed by the word or words home
inspector are the most popular
searches next to the phrase certified
home inspectors.
Therefore for
search engine purposes we registered
or purchased a variety of combinations that captures consumers and
eventually whittles down their search
results to solely NACHI members
who service the area being
sought." said Chris Morrell of
NACHI.
Search engine optimization experts
often argue whether or not hyphens
between words within a domain
name effect ranking, so NACHI just
bought them all. NACHI converted
all these websites into NACHI member lead generators for its U.S. and
Page 6
Some of the new websites NACHI
purchased recently are:
ALHomeInspector.org
AL-Home-Inspector.org
AlabamaHomeInspector.org
Alabama-Home-Inspector.org
AKHomeInspector.org
AK-Home-Inspector.org
AlaskaHomeInspector.org
Alaska-Home-Inspector.org
AZHomeInspector.org
AZ-Home-Inspector.org
ArizonaHomeInspector.org
Arizona-Home-Inspector.org
ARHomeInspector.org
AR-Home-Inspector.org
ArkansasHomeInspector.org
Arkansas-Home-Inspector.org
CAHomeInspector.org
CA-Home-Inspector.org
CaliforniaHomeInspector.org
California-Home-Inspector.org
COHomeInspector.org
CO-Home-Inspector.org
ColoradoHomeInspector.org
Colorado-Home-Inspector.org
CTHomeInspector.org
CT-Home-Inspector.org
ConnecticutHomeInspector.org
Connecticut-Home-Inspector.org
DEHomeInspector.org
DE-Home-Inspector.org
DelawareHomeInspector.org
Delaware-Home-Inspector.org
District-of-Columbia-HomeInspector.org
DCHomeInspector.org
DC-Home-Inspector.org
DistrictofColumbiaHomeInspector.org
FLHomeInspector.org
FL-Home-Inspector.org
FloridaHomeInspector.org
Florida-Home-Inspector.org
GAHomeInspector.org
GA-Home-Inspector.org
GeorgiaHomeInspector.org
Georgia-Home-Inspector.org
HIHomeInspector.org
HI-Home-Inspector.org
HawaiiHomeInspector.org
Hawaii-Home-Inspector.org
IDHomeInspector.org
ID-Home-Inspector.org
IdahoHomeInspector.org
Idaho-Home-Inspector.org
ILHomeInspector.org
IL-Home-Inspector.org
IllinoisHomeInspector.org
Illinois-Home-Inspector.org
INHomeInspector.org
IN-Home-Inspector.org
IndianaHomeInspector.org
Indiana-Home-Inspector.org
IAHomeInspector.org
IA-Home-Inspector.org
IowaHomeInspector.org
Iowa-Home-Inspector.org
KSHomeInspector.org
KS-Home-Inspector.org
KansasHomeInspector.org
Kansas-Home-Inspector.org
KYHomeInspector.org
KY-Home-Inspector.org
KentuckyHomeInspector.org
Kentucky-Home-Inspector.org
LAHomeInspector.org
LA-Home-Inspector.org
LouisianaHomeInspector.org
Louisiana-Home-Inspector.org
MEHomeInspector.org
ME-Home-Inspector.org
MaineHomeInspector.org
Maine-Home-Inspector.org
MDHomeInspector.org
MD-Home-Inspector.org
MarylandHomeInspector.org
Maryland-Home-Inspector.org
MAHomeInspector.org
MA-Home-Inspector.org
MassachusettsHomeInspector.org
Massachusetts-Home-Inspector.org
MIHomeInspector.org
MI-Home-Inspector.org
MichiganHomeInspector.org
Michigan-Home-Inspector.org
MNHomeInspector.org
MN-Home-Inspector.org
MinnesotaHomeInspector.org
Minnesota-Home-Inspector.org
MSHomeInspector.org
MS-Home-Inspector.org
MississippiHomeInspector.org
Mississippi-Home-Inspector.org
MOHomeInspector.org
MO-Home-Inspector.org
MissouriHomeInspector.org
Missouri-Home-Inspector.org
MTHomeInspector.org
MT-Home-Inspector.org
MontanaHomeInspector.org
Montana-Home-Inspector.org
NEHomeInspector.org
NE-Home-Inspector.org
NebraskaHomeInspector.org
Nebraska-Home-Inspector.org
NVHomeInspector.org
NV-Home-Inspector.org
NevadaHomeInspector.org
Nevada-Home-Inspector.org
New-Hampshire-Home-Inspector.org
NHHomeInspector.org
NH-Home-Inspector.org
NewHampshireHomeInspector.org
New-Jersey-Home-Inspector.org
NJHomeInspector.org
NJ-Home-Inspector.org
NewJerseyHomeInspector.org
New-Mexico-Home-Inspector.org
NMHomeInspector.org
NM-Home-Inspector.org
NewMexicoHomeInspector.org
New-York-Home-Inspector.org
NYHomeInspector.org
NY-Home-Inspector.org
NewYorkHomeInspector.org
North-Carolina-Home-Inspector.org
NCHomeInspector.org
NC-Home-Inspector.org
NorthCarolinaHomeInspector.org
NDHomeInspector.org
ND-Home-Inspector.org
North-Dakota-Home-Inspector.org
NorthDakotaHomeInspector.org
OHHomeInspector.org
OH-Home-Inspector.org
OhioHomeInspector.org
Ohio-Home-Inspector.org
OKHomeInspector.org
OK-Home-Inspector.org
OklahomaHomeInspector.org
Oklahoma-Home-Inspector.org
ORHomeInspector.org
OR-Home-Inspector.org
OregonHomeInspector.org
Oregon-Home-Inspector.org
PAHomeInspector.org
PA-Home-Inspector.org
PennsylvaniaHomeInspector.org
Pennsylvania-Home-Inspector.org
Rhode-Island-Home-Inspector.org
RIHomeInspector.org
RI-Home-Inspector.org
RhodeIslandHomeInspector.org
South-Carolina-Home-Inspector.org
SCHomeInspector.org
SC-Home-Inspector.org
SouthCarolinaHomeInspector.org
South-Dakota-Home-Inspector.org
SDHomeInspector.org
SD-Home-Inspector.org
SouthDakotaHomeInspector.org
TNHomeInspector.org
TN-Home-Inspector.org
TennesseeHomeInspector.org
Tennessee-Home-Inspector.org
TXHomeInspector.org
TX-Home-Inspector.org
TexasHomeInspector.org
Texas-Home-Inspector.org
UTHomeInspector.org
UT-Home-Inspector.org
UtahHomeInspector.org
Utah-Home-Inspector.org
VTHomeInspector.org
VT-Home-Inspector.org
VermontHomeInspector.org
Vermont-Home-Inspector.org
VAHomeInspector.org
VA-Home-Inspector.org
VirginiaHomeInspector.org
Virginia-Home-Inspector.org
WAHomeInspector.org
WA-Home-Inspector.org
WashingtonHomeInspector.org
Washington-Home-Inspector.org
West-Virginia-Home-Inspector.org
WVHomeInspector.org
WV-Home-Inspector.org
WestVirginiaHomeInspector.org
WIHomeInspector.org
WI-Home-Inspector.org
WisconsinHomeInspector.org
Wisconsin-Home-Inspector.org
WYHomeInspector.org
WY-Home-Inspector.org
WyomingHomeInspector.org
Wyoming-Home-Inspector.org
ABHomeInspector.org
AB-Home-Inspector.org
AlbertaHomeInspector.org
Alberta-Home-Inspector.org
British-Columbia-HomeInspector.org
BCHomeInspector.org
BC-Home-Inspector.org
BritishColumbiaHomeInspector.org
MBHomeInspector.org
MB-Home-Inspector.org
ManitobaHomeInspector.org
Manitoba-Home-Inspector.org
New-Brunswick-Home-Inspector.org
NBHomeInspector.org
NB-Home-Inspector.org
NewBrunswickHomeInspector.org
NFHomeInspector.org
NF-Home-Inspector.org
NewfoundlandHomeInspector.org
Newfoundland-Home-Inspector.org
Northwest-Territories-HomeInspector.org
NTHomeInspector.org
NT-Home-Inspector.org
NorthwestTerritoriesHomeInspector.org
Nova-Scotia-Home-Inspector.org
NSHomeInspector.org
NS-Home-Inspector.org
NovaScotiaHomeInspector.org
NUHomeInspector.org
NU-Home-Inspector.org
NunavutHomeInspector.org
Nunavut-Home-Inspector.org
ONHomeInspector.org
ON-Home-Inspector.org
OntarioHomeInspector.org
Ontario-Home-Inspector.org
Prince-Edward-Island-HomeInspector.org
PEHomeInspector.org
PE-Home-Inspector.org
PrinceEdwardIslandHomeInspector.org
QCHomeInspector.org
QC-Home-Inspector.org
QuebecHomeInspector.org
Quebec-Home-Inspector.org
SKHomeInspector.org
SK-Home-Inspector.org
SaskatchewanHomeInspector.org
Saskatchewan-Home-Inspector.org
YTHomeInspector.org
YT-Home-Inspector.org
YukonHomeInspector.org
Yukon-Home-Inspector.org
alhomeinspector.net
al-home-inspector.net
alabamahomeinspector.net
alabama-home-inspector.net
akhomeinspector.net
ak-home-inspector.net
alaskahomeinspector.net
alaska-home-inspector.net
azhomeinspector.net
az-home-inspector.net
arizonahomeinspector.net
arizona-home-inspector.net
arhomeinspector.net
ar-home-inspector.net
arkansashomeinspector.net
arkansas-home-inspector.net
cahomeinspector.net
ca-home-inspector.net
californiahomeinspector.net
california-home-inspector.net
cohomeinspector.net
co-home-inspector.net
coloradohomeinspector.net
colorado-home-inspector.net
cthomeinspector.net
ct-home-inspector.net
connecticuthomeinspector.net
connecticut-home-inspector.net
dehomeinspector.net
de-home-inspector.net
delawarehomeinspector.net
delaware-home-inspector.net
district-of-columbia-homeinspector.net
dchomeinspector.net
dc-home-inspector.net
districtofcolumbiahomeinspector.net
flhomeinspector.net
fl-home-inspector.net
floridahomeinspector.net
florida-home-inspector.net
ga-home-inspector.net
georgia-home-inspector.net
hihomeinspector.net
hi-home-inspector.net
hawaii-home-inspector.net
idhomeinspector.net
id-home-inspector.net
idahohomeinspector.net
idaho-home-inspector.net
ilhomeinspector.net
il-home-inspector.net
illinoishomeinspector.net
illinois-home-inspector.net
inhomeinspector.net
in-home-inspector.net
indianahomeinspector.net
indiana-home-inspector.net
iahomeinspector.net
ia-home-inspector.net
iowahomeinspector.net
iowa-home-inspector.net
kshomeinspector.net
ks-home-inspector.net
kansashomeinspector.net
kansas-home-inspector.net
kyhomeinspector.net
ky-home-inspector.net
kentuckyhomeinspector.net
kentucky-home-inspector.net
lahomeinspector.net
la-home-inspector.net
louisianahomeinspector.net
louisiana-home-inspector.net
mehomeinspector.net
me-home-inspector.net
mainehomeinspector.net
maine-home-inspector.net
mdhomeinspector.net
md-home-inspector.net
marylandhomeinspector.net
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ma-home-inspector.net
massachusettshomeinspector.net
massachusetts-home-inspector.net
mihomeinspector.net
mi-home-inspector.net
michiganhomeinspector.net
michigan-home-inspector.net
mnhomeinspector.net
mn-home-inspector.net
minnesotahomeinspector.net
minnesota-home-inspector.net
mshomeinspector.net
ms-home-inspector.net
mississippihomeinspector.net
mississippi-home-inspector.net
mohomeinspector.net
mo-home-inspector.net
missourihomeinspector.net
missouri-home-inspector.net
mthomeinspector.net
mt-home-inspector.net
montanahomeinspector.net
montana-home-inspector.net
nehomeinspector.net
ne-home-inspector.net
nebraskahomeinspector.net
nebraska-home-inspector.net
nvhomeinspector.net
nv-home-inspector.net
nevadahomeinspector.net
nevada-home-inspector.net
new-hampshire-home-inspector.net
nhhomeinspector.net
nh-home-inspector.net
newhampshirehomeinspector.net
new-jersey-home-inspector.net
njhomeinspector.net
nj-home-inspector.net
newjerseyhomeinspector.net
new-mexico-home-inspector.net
nmhomeinspector.net
nm-home-inspector.net
newmexicohomeinspector.net
new-york-home-inspector.net
nyhomeinspector.net
ny-home-inspector.net
newyorkhomeinspector.net
north-carolina-home-inspector.net
nchomeinspector.net
nc-home-inspector.net
northcarolinahomeinspector.net
ndhomeinspector.net
nd-home-inspector.net
north-dakota-home-inspector.net
northdakotahomeinspector.net
ohhomeinspector.net
oh-home-inspector.net
ohiohomeinspector.net
ohio-home-inspector.net
okhomeinspector.net
ok-home-inspector.net
oklahomahomeinspector.net
oklahoma-home-inspector.net
orhomeinspector.net
or-home-inspector.net
oregonhomeinspector.net
oregon-home-inspector.net
pahomeinspector.net
pa-home-inspector.net
pennsylvaniahomeinspector.net
pennsylvania-home-inspector.net
rhode-island-home-inspector.net
ri-home-inspector.net
rhodeislandhomeinspector.net
south-carolina-home-inspector.net
schomeinspector.net
sc-home-inspector.net
southcarolinahomeinspector.net
south-dakota-home-inspector.net
sdhomeinspector.net
sd-home-inspector.net
southdakotahomeinspector.net
tnhomeinspector.net
tn-home-inspector.net
tennesseehomeinspector.net
tennessee-home-inspector.net
tx-home-inspector.net
texas-home-inspector.net
uthomeinspector.net
ut-home-inspector.net
utahhomeinspector.net
utah-home-inspector.net
vthomeinspector.net
vt-home-inspector.net
vermonthomeinspector.net
vermont-home-inspector.net
vahomeinspector.net
va-home-inspector.net
virginiahomeinspector.net
virginia-home-inspector.net
wahomeinspector.net
wa-home-inspector.net
washingtonhomeinspector.net
washington-home-inspector.net
west-virginia-home-inspector.net
wvhomeinspector.net
wv-home-inspector.net
westvirginiahomeinspector.net
wihomeinspector.net
wi-home-inspector.net
wisconsinhomeinspector.net
wisconsin-home-inspector.net
wyhomeinspector.net
wy-home-inspector.net
wyominghomeinspector.net
wyoming-home-inspector.net
abhomeinspector.net
ab-home-inspector.net
albertahomeinspector.net
alberta-home-inspector.net
british-columbia-home-inspector.net
bchomeinspector.net
bc-home-inspector.net
britishcolumbiahomeinspector.net
mbhomeinspector.net
mb-home-inspector.net
manitobahomeinspector.net
manitoba-home-inspector.net
new-brunswick-home-inspector.net
nbhomeinspector.net
nb-home-inspector.net
newbrunswickhomeinspector.net
nfhomeinspector.net
nf-home-inspector.net
newfoundlandhomeinspector.net
newfoundland-home-inspector.net
northwest-territories-homeinspector.net
nthomeinspector.net
nt-home-inspector.net
northwestterritorieshomeinspector.net
nova-scotia-home-inspector.net
nshomeinspector.net
ns-home-inspector.net
novascotiahomeinspector.net
nuhomeinspector.net
nu-home-inspector.net
nunavuthomeinspector.net
nunavut-home-inspector.net
onhomeinspector.net
on-home-inspector.net
ontariohomeinspector.net
ontario-home-inspector.net
prince-edward-island-homeinspector.net
pehomeinspector.net
pe-home-inspector.net
princeedwardislandhomeinspector.net
qchomeinspector.net
qc-home-inspector.net
quebechomeinspector.net
quebec-home-inspector.net
skhomeinspector.net
sk-home-inspector.net
saskatchewanhomeinspector.net
saskatchewan-home-inspector.net
ythomeinspector.net
yt-home-inspector.net
yukonhomeinspector.net
yukon-home-inspector.net
alhomeinspector.com
al-home-inspector.com
alabama-home-inspector.com
akhomeinspector.com
ak-home-inspector.com
alaskahomeinspector.com
alaska-home-inspector.com
az-home-inspector.com
arizona-home-inspector.com
arhomeinspector.com
ar-home-inspector.com
arkansashomeinspector.com
arkansas-home-inspector.com
ca-home-inspector.com
california-home-inspector.com
cohomeinspector.com
co-home-inspector.com
coloradohomeinspector.com
colorado-home-inspector.com
ct-home-inspector.com
connecticuthomeinspector.com
connecticut-home-inspector.com
dehomeinspector.com
de-home-inspector.com
delawarehomeinspector.com
delaware-home-inspector.com
district-of-columbia-homeinspector.com
dchomeinspector.com
dc-home-inspector.com
districtofcolumbiahomeinspector.com
flhomeinspector.com
fl-home-inspector.com
florida-home-inspector.com
ga-home-inspector.com
hihomeinspector.com
hi-home-inspector.com
hawaii-home-inspector.com
idhomeinspector.com
id-home-inspector.com
idahohomeinspector.com
idaho-home-inspector.com
ilhomeinspector.com
il-home-inspector.com
illinois-home-inspector.com
inhomeinspector.com
in-home-inspector.com
indianahomeinspector.com
indiana-home-inspector.com
iahomeinspector.com
ia-home-inspector.com
iowahomeinspector.com
iowa-home-inspector.com
kshomeinspector.com
ks-home-inspector.com
kansas-home-inspector.com
kyhomeinspector.com
ky-home-inspector.com
kentuckyhomeinspector.com
kentucky-home-inspector.com
la-home-inspector.com
louisianahomeinspector.com
louisiana-home-inspector.com
mehomeinspector.com
me-home-inspector.com
mainehomeinspector.com
maine-home-inspector.com
mdhomeinspector.com
md-home-inspector.com
maryland-home-inspector.com
mahomeinspector.com
ma-home-inspector.com
massachusettshomeinspector.com
massachusetts-home-inspector.com
mihomeinspector.com
mi-home-inspector.com
michigan-home-inspector.com
mn-home-inspector.com
minnesotahomeinspector.com
minnesota-home-inspector.com
ms-home-inspector.com
mississippihomeinspector.com
mississippi-home-inspector.com
mohomeinspector.com
mo-home-inspector.com
missourihomeinspector.com
missouri-home-inspector.com
mthomeinspector.com
mt-home-inspector.com
montana-home-inspector.com
nehomeinspector.com
ne-home-inspector.com
nebraskahomeinspector.com
nebraska-home-inspector.com
nvhomeinspector.com
nv-home-inspector.com
nevada-home-inspector.com
new-hampshire-home-inspector.com
nh-home-inspector.com
new-jersey-home-inspector.com
nj-home-inspector.com
new-mexico-home-inspector.com
nmhomeinspector.com
nm-home-inspector.com
newmexicohomeinspector.com
new-york-home-inspector.com
ny-home-inspector.com
north-carolina-home-inspector.com
nc-home-inspector.com
northcarolinahomeinspector.com
ndhomeinspector.com
nd-home-inspector.com
north-dakota-home-inspector.com
northdakotahomeinspector.com
ohhomeinspector.com
oh-home-inspector.com
ohio-home-inspector.com
okhomeinspector.com
ok-home-inspector.com
oklahomahomeinspector.com
oklahoma-home-inspector.com
orhomeinspector.com
or-home-inspector.com
oregon-home-inspector.com
pahomeinspector.com
pa-home-inspector.com
pennsylvania-home-inspector.com
rhode-island-home-inspector.com
ri-home-inspector.com
rhodeislandhomeinspector.com
south-carolina-home-inspector.com
sc-home-inspector.com
south-dakota-home-inspector.com
sd-home-inspector.com
southdakotahomeinspector.com
tn-home-inspector.com
tennessee-home-inspector.com
tx-home-inspector.com
texas-home-inspector.com
uthomeinspector.com
ut-home-inspector.com
utah-home-inspector.com
vt-home-inspector.com
vermont-home-inspector.com
vahomeinspector.com
va-home-inspector.com
virginia-home-inspector.com
wahomeinspector.com
wa-home-inspector.com
washingtonhomeinspector.com
washington-home-inspector.com
west-virginia-home-inspector.com
wvhomeinspector.com
wv-home-inspector.com
westvirginiahomeinspector.com
wi-home-inspector.com
wisconsin-home-inspector.com
wyhomeinspector.com
wy-home-inspector.com
wyominghomeinspector.com
wyoming-home-inspector.com
abhomeinspector.com
ab-home-inspector.com
albertahomeinspector.com
alberta-home-inspector.com
british-columbia-home-inspector.com
bchomeinspector.com
bc-home-inspector.com
britishcolumbiahomeinspector.com
mbhomeinspector.com
mb-home-inspector.com
manitobahomeinspector.com
manitoba-home-inspector.com
new-brunswick-home-inspector.com
nbhomeinspector.com
nb-home-inspector.com
newbrunswickhomeinspector.com
nfhomeinspector.com
nf-home-inspector.com
newfoundlandhomeinspector.com
newfoundland-home-inspector.com
northwest-territories-homeinspector.com
nthomeinspector.com
nt-home-inspector.com
northwestterritorieshomeinspector.com
nova-scotia-home-inspector.com
nshomeinspector.com
ns-home-inspector.com
novascotiahomeinspector.com
nuhomeinspector.com
nu-home-inspector.com
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nunavut-home-inspector.com
onhomeinspector.com
on-home-inspector.com
ontariohomeinspector.com
ontario-home-inspector.com
prince-edward-island-homeinspector.com
pehomeinspector.com
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qchomeinspector.com
qc-home-inspector.com
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quebec-home-inspector.com
skhomeinspector.com
sk-home-inspector.com
saskatchewanhomeinspector.com
saskatchewan-home-inspector.com
ythomeinspector.com
yt-home-inspector.com
yukonhomeinspector.com
yukon-home-inspector.com
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nynachi.org
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faphi.info
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faphi.org
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ohnachi.org
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rockymountainhi.net
certifiedprofessionalinspector.org
certifiedprofessionalinspectors.org
inspectorlocator.com
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Page 7
Exclusive BuildFax - NACHI
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are doing impacts the safety of the
structure and therefore should have
been permitted and inspected.
Most home inspector's clients are
looking to buy a home that has had
remodeling done in the past. It is
possible that some of the work was
done without permits. This could
spell trouble later for buyer, seller,
agent and inspector. A BuildFax™
Property History Report provided by
a NACHI home inspector reveals the
permit history for the property. Best
of all, it's all done by the NACHI
inspector quickly and online.
“A BuildFax™ Property History Report provided by a
NACHI home inspector reveals the permit history for the
property. Best of all, it's all
done by the NACHI inspector
quickly and online.”
Bill Ward, CEO of BUILDERadius
said enthusiastically, “Our software
was developed in consultation with
the International Code Council, the
largest model building code organization in the world with over 10,000
city and county members. We believe that the National Association of
Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI)
is just as important to the home inspe c t i on i nd ust ry t ha t they
serve. We’re a technology company,
and we were extremely impressed
with the fact that NACHI is way out
in front as far as using the power and
reach of the Internet to better serve
their members and the general public. NACHI is truly blessed to have a
visionary leader like Nick
Gromicko.”
Nick Gromicko, NACHI’s Founder
added, “These BuildFax Reports are
similar to CarFax Reports but instead
of a Vehicle History Report you can
get Property History Reports and
Contractor History Reports, basically,
all the information in the local building department’s database about a
home and the contractors and subcontractors who built that home. We
believe these BuildFax
Reports are going to be
part of every real estate
transaction in the country in the next few
years.”
.
Inspector's Quarterly reporter Cory Doane, NACHI's
Director of Operations Nick Gromicko, BuildFax's Director of Business Development Holly Tachovsky, and
BuildFax's Chief Executive Officer Bill Ward at the
BuildFax-NACHI partnership press conference at the
Texas Home Show in Houston on March 18th.
NACHI members save
money on the BuildFax
Reports by purchasing
in bulk (the only organization that enjoys
such pricing). Also, the
reports save NACHI
members time as well
through a special
NACHI member portal
on NACHI.org.
A few states and even some local
municipalities require you to pass a
separate exam for licensing purposes. Typically these government
adopted exams are horribly inferior to
NACHI's Online Inspector Examination. If you are in a jurisdiction
which requires you to pass such a
licensing exam, don't worry. Help is
here.
NACHI has developed the ultimate
licensing exam prep tool. It is an
actual simulated exam designed to
provide you with real practice. As
you answer each question you will be
told if your answer is correct or incorrect. It is a great learning tool!
This exam prep tool allows you to
return to it where you left off, again
and again, from the comfort of your
own home. The prep exam contains
over 2,500 questions typically found
on state and local licensing exams. Members may access the licensing exam prep tool at:
www.nachi.org/practice
Remember: Much of what NACHI
does helps members BEFORE they
actually go into business... so check
out the membership benefits section.
Also, take NACHI’s free online
exam. It is a great interactive learning tool, open to all, even nonmembers.
NACHI Releases Online Glossary
The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors released the world’s
largest online searchable inspection glossary. It is open and free to all at:
Page 8
www.nachi.org/glossary
http://buildfax.com/nachi
Visit Buildfax at NACHI’s Convention (see page 1).
Now Interviewing Distributors
In All Markets Nationwide
Make Excellent Money By
Signing Up Real Estate Firms
For Our BuildFax Service
Contact Mike Pelz
Mike@BuildFax.com
(828) 350-9950 X202
The Greater Toronto Area Chapter of
the National Association of Certified
Home Inspectors (NACHI) is meeting on Wednesday, February 15,
2006 at 6pm. The meeting is open to
all. You don’t need to be a member to
attend. The cost of dinner is $30.
Nick Gromicko, Former REALTOR,
ad agency owner, and Founder of
NACHI will be speaking on:
•
•
•
•
•
15 things you can do to improve
your inspection service.
Canadian home inspection licensing.
Marketing your home inspection
service directly to home buyers.
Raising your prices when your
competition charges less in Toronto.
Converting every call into a
scheduled inspection.
Deanna Willis, NACHI's Director of
Corporate Relations, will be speaking
on advanced educational options.
There are currently no dues required
to join the Greater Toronto Area
Chapter. You need not join to attend.
Everyone is welcome to attend this
open-door home inspection event.
The event will be held at:
Spot One Restaurant and Catering
289 Rutherford Rd South,
Brampton, Ontario,
905-456-0422
www.spot1catering.com
This Chapter and meeting were put
together by :
Allen Atkinson
Ontario, CANADA
(W) 416-550-4345
allen_atkinson@sympatico.ca
Attendance counts as 1 hour toward
NACHI member continuing education.
NACHI a Hit at Idaho
Montana REALTOR
Convention
NACHI stole the show at the recent
Idaho/Montana REALTOR Convention in Sun Valley
NACHI’s booth was manned by
Marvin Frandsen, NACHI’s Idaho
chapter Vice President, Bruce Kirby,
NACHI's Western States Director
and member Judy Kirby. Hundreds
of attendees stopped by the NACHI
booth and many a good discussion
was had. The general consensus was
Home Inspectors not only help
REALTORs to close deals, but help
to get all parties involved on to the
“same page”. More REALTORs are
using Home Inspectors than ever
before and NACHI Inspectors are fast
becoming the number one choice.
Bruce Kirby commented, “I am glad
to hear good things about our Inspectors. It is great to be building such a
positive working relationship with
other real estate professionals. I am
thankful for the opportunity to help
raise standards throughout the industry.”
NACHI Course Being
Taught at University
in Miami
NACHI trainer/FEMA inspector
Mary Kolf teaches a home inspection
course at Carlos Albizu University in
Miami. This course uses NACHI's
exam and quizzes and is based on
NACHI's Standards of Practice and
Code of Ethics. This course, like
Mary, is bilingual. Areas of instruction include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Legal aspects
Electricity
Plumbing
Structure
Interiors
Exteriors
Roofs
Air Conditioners
Marketing
To register for the next class just call
Mary at (786) 242-3341 or (954)
288-7274 or (305) 803-1976 or
mfk644@adelphia.net
Kentucky Board of
Home Inspectors
Accepts NACHI’s
Standards
The Kentucky Board of Home
Inspectors recently accepted the
NACHI Standards of Practice as
one of three SOPs approved for use
within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Inspectors will be required
to use a standardized PreInspection Service Agreement that
informs customers which SOP are
being used and provide the customer with either an electronic or
paper copy of those standards.
NACHI thanks fellow NACHI
member D. Michael Green who sits
on the Kentucky Board of Home
Inspectors for his work in gaining
this approval.
www.nachi.org/sop.htm
RSVP nick.gromicko@nachi.org
Visit NACHI's Greater Toronto Area
Chapter website:
www.gtanachi.org
Nick
Gromicko
summed it all up by
Ultimate State Exam Prep Tool
Pass any home
inspection exam.
saying, “The retail price for a BuildFax Report is $9.95. and less for
NACHI members. The average selling price for a home in the United
States is $190,000. So answer this
one question for me, if you were a
home buyer about to spend $190,000
for a home, would you spend $9.95 to
learn everything the local building
department knows about the construction of that home? We believe a
substantial percentage of home buyers will answer a resounding YES to
that question." Gromicko went on to
say, "The more information our
members have about a property before the inspection takes place, the
better their inspections will
be. BuildFax Reports are like having
an invisible helper on the inspection. This is going to help our members, provide more information to our
clients, reduce liability, avoid surprises that could arise during settlement or during the municipal/
occupancy inspection, and provide
another add-on option our members
can charge for. It's a powerful marketing tool too." For more information visit
Greater Toronto
Area NACHI
Chapter Meeting
Feb 15, 2006
Report Generation
for a New Generation
NACHI is pleased to announce that it
leased its Trademarked tagline
"Report Generation for a New Generation" to 3-D Inspection System,
one of the industry's best inspection
software companies. The nonexclusive lease gives 3-D the right to
use the tagline in a new upcoming
advertising campaign they are developing.
3-D is an exhibitor at the Inspection
Event of the Century: and is one of
three software companies offering a
joint presentation at the convention.
They will be showing inspectors the
very latest in computer report generation. This presentation is a must for
anyone considering an upgrade to
their reporting system. 3-D is offering a special NACHI show price that
you won't be able to beat anywhere
else. Also, 3-D purchased $1,000
raffle tickets for a truck we are giving
away at the convention. They will be
given out to the attendees of this
presentation.
www.nachi.org/convention2006
Washington
State University
NACHI is pleased to announce a
new working relationship with
Washington State University to
offer two Structural Pest Inspector
Pre-licensing courses. NACHI is
also pleased to announce its endorsement of a new Structural Pest
Research and Demonstration Facility being constructed.
NACHI
members will also receive discounts on training offered at this
facility.
For more information on any of
these courses, NACHI discounts on
training, or the new learning facility contact NACHI's representative
at WSU:
Carrie R. Foss
Urban IPM Coordinator
NACHI Member Rep.
WSU Puyallup
7612 Pioneer Way E.
Puyallup, WA 98371-4998
253.445.4577
253.445.4569 fax
cfoss@wsu.edu
http://pep.wsu.edu
NACHI is Washington State’s largest inspection association.
Inspector turns complaint into marketing gain.
Dear NACHI:
NACHI’s e-Newsletter Promotes Members
NACHI recently re-launched its
“Home Inspection Tips for Home
Buyers, Sellers and Real Estate
Professionals” e-newsletter.
NACHI has messages prepared
from now through June 2006. The
first newsletter was titled, "Ten
Things You Should Know About
Mold." 800,000+ of them real
estate agents whose e-mail addresses have been provided by
members. The automated system
has been wildly successful. Of the
three issues that have been sent out
(the first sent to about 60,000 real
estate agents, the second sent to all
99,709 real estate agents and the
third sent out to 815,005 real estate
agents) only 121 “unsubscribe”
requests have been received.
That’s only about 0.01%!
Each newsletter has the name and
contact information of the NACHI
member who provided the agent's
e-mail address. NACHI members
can add names through the link in
the members-only section to Add to
Real Estate Agent Database.
The next e-Newsletter is expected
to reach over 1.4 million licensed
real estate agents.
PRO-LAB® Supports NACHI Foundation
with Launch of NACHIstore.com
The National Association of Certified
Home Inspectors
(NACHI), the world’s
leading home inspection association, is
pleased to announce
its new venture with
PRO-LAB®, a national leader in the
environmental testing
industry. Together,
they have launched
NACHIStore.com -- a
one-stop online resource for Home
Inspector supplies.
After my client moved into the home I
inspected for her she discovered a
clogged sink drain and has complained to the real estate agent. This
is not my fault. The agent refers a lot
of inspection work my way. What
should I do?
The NACHI Store features a complete line of professional equipment
for the home inspection industry. It
offers the best prices, service and
same-day shipping. “We’re extremely excited about this endeavor, as it not only offers a
source to make purchases, but ten
percent (10%) of all the proceeds
will be donated to The NACHI
Foundation,” said Nick Gromicko,
NACHI’s Founder.
The NACHI Foundation is an organization that was established to
raise funds for various charities.
“We’re happy to have the opportunity to be involved in the development of a program that services the
home inspection industry and gives
back to others as well,” said James
E. McDonnell, IV, President and
CEO of PRO-LAB®. In addition to
providing laboratory testing services for mold, radon, lead, asbestos, drinking water, etc., PROLAB® offers a complete line of
affordable and scientifically accu-
rate environmental testing products.
PRO-LAB’s promise includes offering the best prices, the fastest
turnaround time, outstanding customer service, accurate lab results,
and analyzing 100% of every sample. PRO-LAB’s laboratories are
staffed with Certified Indoor Air
Quality Professionals, Radon
Measurement Specialists, Ph.D.
Mycologists, Chemists and registered clinical laboratory technicians.
This partnership joins two industry
powerhouses and was designed to
provide NACHI members with all
the tools they need to support their
business. For more information
and to start making purchases today, visit:
www.NACHIstore.com
Also, visit the NACHIstore at
NACHI’s Convention (see page 1).
Inspection Industry’s Most Popular Message Board
As this paper goes to print, NACHI's
photo-based, open-to-all message
board reached an all time high of
176,000+ posts.
This parabolic increase in activity has
now made NACHI's message
board many times more popular than
all other inspection-related message
boards combined.
The average number of posts made
has increased to a whopping 260 per
day! If you don't visit NACHI's message board for four days...you'll miss
over 1,000 posts.
Also, over 132,000 unique visitors
check out NACHI.org every month,
and this number continues to climb.
53,000+ pages of free stuff for home inspectors at www.NACHI.org
including a 174,000+ topic message board
d. Tell them that the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors
is on your side and will write an official opinion in support of your contention that you are not at fault.
Dear Home Inspector:
Don't get upset. Handling complaints
is a part of any business. Three out
of every 100 people are nuts and you
can't change that. You cannot find
every defect that exists or ever could
exist in every home you inspect. Do
not think backward, think forward. The real problem is not with
the sink, it is with the damage a complaint can do to your company's reputation. Don't think plumbing, think
marketing!
Many complaints are great marketing
opportunities in disguise. Try to turn
them around and capitalize on
them. Gain marketing benefits from
them that outweigh the cost of satisfying them. Especially if:
1. The problem is not your fault.
2. News of the complaint could damage your image within your local
market.
3. The cost of correction is inexpensive.
PRO-LAB’s. James McDonnell
and NACHI’s Nick Gromicko
(between you and your client). The
agreement is easy for laymen to understand. NACHI has invested hundreds of legal man-hours into this
one-page work-of-art. It explains all.
Clogged drains are one of the most
common post-settlement complaints
directed at home inspectors. Real
estate sales agreements usually require home sellers to empty and clean
their home before the buyer takes
possession. A seller's final clean-up
efforts often inadvertently clog the
sink traps and drains with dirt and
leftover refrigerator goods. Guess
who gets blamed?
2. After you have made your point
clear and your client and the agent
understand your position, SWITCH
GEARS. Offer to correct the problem at no charge. Pay for a plumber
to repair the clogged drain. Don't do
the work yourself, pay a professional.
Get the work done
quickly. Make sure the plumber's
paid receipt shows that you paid personally.
3. After the repair has been made
and you have paid for it, reiterate
your position to your client
again. Explain again that you were
not responsible for this problem but
that you only paid for it to make your
client happy. If your client offers to
reimburse you, do not accept.
4. Ask your client for a favor. Ask
her to write you a brief Thank-you
letter. Nothing fancy, just a note
mentioning the problem, your quick
response, your willingness to pay for
correction, and her own satisfaction
with your home inspection service. Offer to help her word it, or
offer suggested wording. It can be
hand-written. Give or send her a
postage-paid return envelope to get it
back to you.
5. Draft and send a letter to the real
estate agent. A sample letter might
go something like this:
Dear Jane:
a. Use common sense in your explanation. Remind your client and agent
that the seller did not live with a
clogged sink and that the clog occurred AFTER you did your inspection.
b. Remind your client and agent that
the seller didn't disclose the clogged
sink for a good reason: It wasn't
clogged.
(describe your solution)
Therefore I took the initiative to hire
a plumber to make the necessary
repairs. I paid for it out of my own
pocket.
(describe the happy outcome)
Sally Newowner is now very
pleased. I have enclosed a copy of a
Thank-you note Sally wrote for me.
(ask for repeat business)
I hope my quick handling of this
problem will earn your confidence in
me and inspire you and your colleagues at ABC Realty to refer your
clients to me again.
Sincerely,
Joe Homeinspector
6. Send and fax the letter to Jane
Goodagent. Don't forget to attach a
copy of Sally Newowner's Thank-you
note, the plumber's paid receipt, and a
stack of your home inspection business cards.
You should never have to pay to
correct a defect, especially if you are
protected by the NACHI agreement
(between you and your client). However, if you ever feel the need to pay
for a repair, make sure you offset
your cost by getting a marketing
benefit in return. Turn every negative into a positive.
Advanced tip:
Jane Goodagent
ABC Realty
Here's what to do (act fast):
1. Immediately explain to your client, the real estate agent, and anyone
else aware of the complaint that you
the inspector are not responsible. Contact every complaint recipient personally. Be calm and talk
slow.
Despite my lack of liability with regard to this problem, I nevertheless
wanted to keep our mutual client
satisfied with my inspection service
and happy with the home you helped
her purchase.
(describe new home owner's problem)
Upon moving into her new home, our
mutual client, Sally Newowner discovered that her kitchen sink trap
was clogged.
(explain why you are not responsible)
I explained that this was not my fault,
the seller obviously didn't live with a
clogged sink drain, clogs often occur
during the seller's final clean up, I
can only inspect the condition of a
home on the day of the inspection,
etc.
(sympathize with agent's position)
c. Point to the NACHI Agreement
Save all the paperwork aforementioned. When a prospective client
asks you for references, explain that
even the worst inspector has a few
satisfied clients and that any inspector can provide references. Instead,
offer your prospective client your one
complaint! Then fax or send him/her
a copy of your letter to Jane Goodagent, the plumber's paid receipt and
Sally Newowner's Thank-you
note. It works every time! Also,
include copies of thank-you notes in
your marketing packets.
Dear NACHI is offered to provide
detailed advice and possible solutions
to specific questions or problems. Obviously other solutions exist
and may be better suited for you and
your particular situation. Please submit your specific problem for publication. Your name will not be used
unless you give permission.
Using a hold-harmless clause as a marketing tool
Inspectors are often asked by real
estate agents if they carry Error &
Omissions insurance (E&O) and if
that E&O insurance indemnifies real
estate agents. If you do not have
such insurance you should use a
hold-harmless clause in your preinspection agreement (between you
and your client).
hold a real estate agent responsible
for anything related to your home
inspection is proper.
You should explain to all real estate
agents that unlike indemnification
insurance which only pays for the
legal defense of a real estate agent
who gets sued over one of your inspections, your hold-harmless clause
is even better in that your client preagrees not to file suit against the
agent at all.
This is a great tool for breaking-into
new real estate offices. It is somewhat difficult to explain to some real
estate agents but many members have
found success when they present it to
the broker/owner directly.
A real estate agent is just a sales person. Having your client agree not to
Many real estate agents are worried
about negligent referral claims. Ease
their worries by letting them know
you use a hold-harmless clause which
protects them.
Believe it, a broker/owner will be all
ears as you explain how using your
services protects his/her agents.
The following is a sample holdharmless clause for you attorney's
review:
HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT: CLIENT agrees to hold
any and all real estate agents
involved in the purchase of the
property to be inspected harmless
and keep them exonerated from
all loss, damage, liability or expense occasioned or claimed by
reasons of acts or neglects of the
INSPECTOR or his employees or
visitors or of independent contractors engaged or paid by INSPECTOR for the purpose of
inspecting the subject home.
www.nachi.org/harmless.htm
Page 9
Certified Master Inspector: A Professional Designation
The CMI Exam
The Certified Master Inspector Exam
(CMIE) is a valid and reliable advanced level exam that assesses the
skills and knowledge required to
perform home inspections at a master
inspector level of competence. It is
not to be confused with the CMI
Formula: www.nachi.org/
cmiformula.htm
The CMI Formula
The home inspection business is different than almost any other business
in that the consumer doesn’t get to
meet the home inspector until AFTER he/she hires the inspector
(typically onsite at the inspection).
Over the years, prominent members
of the home inspection industry have
recognized the difficulty consumers
have in determining inspector competence. How can one tell a good inspector from a bad one? Licensing,
which only creates a bare minimum
standard, has been shown over the
years to be a horrible predictor of
inspector competence. Like being up
to code, licensing isn’t up at all in
that if you did anything less… it
would be outright illegal. Inspector
competence would have to be quantified somehow by another formula. A
formula based on the sum of many
indicators falling into 4 major categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Education
Experience
Commitment
Competence
Hence was born the Certified Master
Principles of the designation's formula:
The formula would have to be
based on the sum of many indicators
and should that final sum or total be
equal to or greater than a certain
qualifying bar, the inspector would
be free to use the Trademarked Certified Master Inspector designation.
• The formula would have to be
open and available to all inspectors in
the industry.
• The formula would have to be
fair to all home inspectors in the industry.
• The formula would have to give
inspectors numerous ways of obtaining the designation. For example, a
new inspector could offset his lack of
experience by obtaining more continuing education.
• The formula would have to be
simple to calculate.
• The formula would take into
consideration factors that demonstrate education, experience, commitment and competence. Some factors
overlap. For example... buying a
moisture meter indicates commitment
(expenditure) and competence (to
measure moisture).
• The formula would have to result in the free use of the designation
without a very formal application/
approval process or expensive fees.
Fees based on the costs to frugally
administer only (perhaps $20/year).
• The formula would be free for
all to use again and again anonymously.
•
NACHI is pleased to announce that it
has developed such a formula. It is
open to all at www.nachi.org/
cmiformula.htm
NACHI has also developed a valid
Certified Master Inspector Exam
(CMIE).
Page 10
The CMIE's purpose is to serve the
public by providing an advanced
competence assessment tool for experienced inspectors to distinguish
themselves under the Certified Master Inspector®. professional designation. The CMIE has the secondary
purpose of serving governments and
regulatory boards by providing an
assurance of above minimum standard level of competency of home
inspectors, specifically for licensing
reciprocity purposes. Because passing the CMIE demonstrates a knowledge and skill level that surpasses the
mere governmentally licensed or
regulatory compliant level of the
home inspection profession, the
CMIE has the goal of being adopted
for licensing reciprocity purposes
between states and provinces. The
CMIE is not a minimum standard
exam and does not assess basic
knowledge, therefore should not be
used as an entrance exam for the
inspection profession's trade associations. Other minimum standard exams such as EBPHI's NHIE and
NACHI's Online Inspector Exam are
better suited for such purposes.
The CMIE, developed by NACHI
over many years, measures competence in home inspectors based on the
critical job components and delineated skill sets from Standards of
Practice, Code of Ethics, interviews,
mock inspections, surveys, observations, group discussions, and data
collected from some 75,000+ exams
already taken. With the industry's
most popular exams, quizzes and
online education, combined with it's
48,000 page website and 156,000
post message board (both the largest
in the industry), NACHI, the largest
home inspection association in the
world, collects and possesses more
home inspection exam question/
answer data and industry information
than all other private and government
entities combined.
Unlike other
home inspection examinations that
may use a panel of experts (if at all)
to review and validate each question
once, the CMIE exploits its ongoing
access to most every expert in the
field. The questions/answers and any
related performance issues stand the
test of time under the industry scrutiny suffered in NACHI's open to all
Question of the Day, NACHI's open
message board, NACHI's open to all
existing exams and quizzes, NACHI's
online education, NACHI's exam
prep tools, NACHI's expert trainers/
educators, and NACHI's various
professional committees. In essence,
everything the industry knows, every
question ever asked to test that
knowledge, and every right and
wrong answer ever given to those
questions, are forever examined to
verify technical accuracy and content
validity. Other existing home inspector examinations admit that their
content is based solely on one old
role delineation study. Exploitation
of NACHI's massive data collection
abilities has permitted the build up of
a supplemental bank of psychometrically sound items (questions) that are
rotated into the CMIE pool replacing
obsolete items with items of similar
content and difficulty. This is especially important in the home inspection industry where the pool of items
used in licensing exams is widely
known and circulated. The massive
culling of this industry-wide data also
provides a vast, published item reference in support of legal defensibility.
The CMIE was developed using a
blueprint based largely on NACHI's
Standards of Practice and Code of
Ethics with test methodology based
primarily on Standards for education
and psychological testing by the
American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association and the National
Council on Measurement in Education. The CMIE also relied on the
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission's Uniform Guidelines
for Employee Selection Procedures,
the National Commission for Certifying Agencies' Standards for Accreditation, and other applicable standards.
The CMIE covers eight major content
domains, all of them job-related.
They are listed as follows along with
the weight percentage each domain
carries:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Industry terms, 5%.
Building and mechanical systems including roof, exterior,
basement, foundation, crawlspace, structure, heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical fireplace, attic, insulation, ventilation, doors, windows and interior, 20%.
Inspection methods, techniques,
defect recognition, and analysis,
31%.
Common building and construction codes, 4%.
Wood destroying organisms,
8%.
Health, safety and environmental issues including lead,
asbestos, radon and mold, 6%.
Condition documentation, report
generation and client communication, 15%.
Professional practice and ethics,
11%.
The CMIE is an open book exam.
Exam takers are free to bring and use
any written notes or printed (nondigital) reference material during the
exam; however use of palm pilots or
laptops is prohibited. Calculators are
also prohibited and unnecessary. The
items in the CMIE are biased toward
application, analysis, dynamic problem solving, and defect recognition
where the exam taker demonstrates
learning at a higher cognitive level by
applying his/her knowledge on new
material. New material includes a
referenced photo or diagram or a
situational/hypothetical stem question. The CMIE can be administered
open book as it simulates the situations home inspectors face every day.
Biasing the CMIE toward application, analysis, dynamic problem solving, and defect recognition gives the
exam a high degree of validity for
predicting inspector success in the
field. Other existing home inspection
licensing exams are based on recall.
These minimum standard exams do
nothing more than test the exam takers ability to remember the correct
answers and re-state facts.
The CMIE contains 250 questions.
Exam takers are given five hours to
complete the exam. This is ample
time to answer every question.
Because NACHI is already the largest provider and administrator of
home inspection exams and quizzes,
inappropriate, poorly worded, ambiguous or questionable questions
and/or answers are quickly recognized and revised or removed from
future versions. In addition, new
items are developed as the industry
evolves.
With exception of the
lightly weighted content domain
industry terms, the CMIE does mini-
mize the effects of ancillary skills
(such as terminology familiarity) by
using commonly used phrases including synonyms where available. This
also minimizes the effect of geographic bias so prominent in the inspection industry.
wishes with no wait period between
attempts. Exam takers must bring
and present photo identification.
Acceptable forms of photo identification include a driver's license, state
identification card, passport, or military ID.
Each stem question in the CMIE is
meaningful in and of itself. In other
words, the questions are worded so
that the exam taker could predict the
correct answer after merely reading
the question. For instance, Q. Radon... A. exposure increases one's
chance of contracting lung cancer.
would be worded as follows: Q.
Radon exposure increases one's
chance of... A. contracting lung cancer. (note, this is not an actual item
found on the CMIE).
Exam takers are free to drink beverages during the exam. Exam takers
are free to take a break during the
exam but the five hour time clock
does not stop. It is unlikely any exam
taker will need more than the generous five hour time limit given, even
with breaks. Obviously exam proctors and administrators are unable to
help with answering questions found
on the exam and exam takers may not
talk with each other during the exam.
Negatively stated questions appear on
the CMIE only when necessary. For
instance, when technically correct,
"should not slope downward" would
be worded "should slope upward" on
the CMIE. Negative stems that include terms such as "except for" or
"does not include" are avoided in the
CMIE.
Because use of "all of the above" and
"none of the above" should not be
used as distracters (incorrect answer
options), the CMIE does not incorporate such answer options at all.
Because very few things in professional settings are "always" or
"never" true, the CMIE uses such
terms judiciously.
NACHI formally and informally
validates every question and every
answer choice (correct and incorrect).
Each item is validated to ensure that
the knowledge and/or skill tested by
the item is essential for one to be
deemed a Certified Master Inspector,
validated to ensure that the keyed
correct answer is in fact correct without ambiguity, and validated to assure that the incorrect answer options
are in fact incorrect, but still plausible
enough to provide distraction. Distracters (incorrect answer choices)
found within the CMIE are not tricky
or deceptive, but instead employ
common errors.
With the exception of the first few
questions, which are non-scored, easy
and designed to help exam takers
acquaint themselves with the exam
taking process, all items are drawn
from the eight domain pools randomly while maintaining their relative percentages.
As part of the psychometric analysis
performed on the CMIE, each question's pass/fail rate is calculated and
recorded each time the question is
answered so that the question difficulty is quantified over time. Regular
checks comparing the answers given
by experienced, skilled inspectors
with those offered by inexperienced,
unskilled inspectors verify that each
question contributes to testing the
exam taker's competency. Also, at
the end of every exam session descriptive statistics custom to each
exam taker are displayed along with a
color pie chart depicting that particular exam taker's weaknesses.
There are a variety of study materials
available at www.InspectorMall.com
The CMIE is a proctored exam that is
administered by the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors
(NACHI) in various locations
throughout North America. The cost
to take the CMIE is $100. NACHI
has contracted with over 350 Community Colleges, Universities and
home inspection schools to assist in
administration of the CMIE. One
may take the CMIE as often as one
All CMIE testing facilities meet
guidelines that ensure handicap accessibility, quiet and security and
comply with the provisions of the
Americans with Disabilities Act in
accommodating exam takers who,
because of a disability, need special
arrangements.
Even though each item on the CMIE
has only one correct or clearly best
answer, CMIE' scoring system permits modest reward for next best
answer choice and severe punishment
for very wrong answer choice.
The CMIE's scoring system is much
more advanced than existing home
inspector exams to the benefit of
public safety. Each item is validated
to determine the relative importance
on assessing the exam takers knowledge and skill, as is each answer to
each question. Then each is weighted
accordingly. Not only are the questions in the CMIE weighted, the answers are as well in the sense that an
exam taker is punished severely (in
terms of score) for incorrectly answering questions that indicate that
he/she could cause physical harm to
the public, but not greatly rewarded
(in terms of score) for correctly answering such questions. This same
scoring is used for questions that test
minimum competency.
Likewise,
difficult questions (questions that lie
outside or nearly outside the scope of
a home inspection) are weighted such
that the exam taker is not severely
punished for answering incorrectly.
Other existing home inspector exam's
questions and answers are all
weighted the same in terms of scoring.
The CMIE was developed based on
the American Educational Research
Association, American Psychological
Association and the National Council
on Measurement in Education's Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's
Uniform Guidelines for Employee
Selection Procedures, the Civil
Rights Act of 1991, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
There is some discussion at NACHI
leading to the use of NACHI's existing CMI Formula as a minimum
qualifier to take the CMIE. In other
words, one would first have to reach
a certain point level (probably 5,000)
on the www.nachi.org/
cmiformula.htm before one could
qualify to take the CMIE. Other
discussions at NACHI suggest that
passing the CMIE will be used to
offset experience in the point system
of the CMI formula. In other words,
one could make up for one's lack of
experience by scoring well on the
CMIE. There is currently no consensus at NACHI on the use of either the
CMI Formula or the CMIE in earning
the Certified Master Inspector (CMI)
designation.
The Certified Master Inspectors Examination (CMIE) is the home inspection industry's only valid, reliable and legally defensible, advanced
level examination. Certified Master
Inspector® is a U.S. registered
Trademark #78325155, trademarked
in Canada and a professional designation attained only by the very best
inspectors. CMI® is also a Trademarked professional designation.
FREA Sponsors NACHI’s Annual Convention
San Diego, CA – October 24, 2005
– FREA, the Nation’s #1 E&O
Provider for home inspectors, is
pleased to announce they will be
the premier sponsor of NACHI’s
2006 Annual Convention to be held
February 4-8, 2006 in Orlando, FL
(see page 1).
Free Report Review
NACHI's Report Review Committee reviews member's inspection
reports, checks them for adherence
to our Standards of Practice, makes
suggestions for improvements, and
returns them to the inspector.
There is no charge for this service.
Working members who have yet to
perform any fee-paid inspections
must submit four mock inspection
reports to the Report Review Committee before performing any feepaid inspections. A mock inspection is an inspection on performed
for no fee. It can be performed on
the member's own home, a friend's
home, a family member's home,
another inspector's home, or at a
NACHI sponsored mock inspection. This is a membership requirement for members who have never
done a fee-paid inspection.
Tip to writing a good report: Take
NACHI's free SOP Quiz several
times first.
Mail inspection reports in the same
format as would be presented to
your client to:
NACHI
Report Review Committee
1750 30th Street
Boulder, CO 80301
www.nachi.org/reportreview.htm
NACHI’s Free Library
A message from our librarian:
The Library is fairly simple. Visit
the request form to make a selection.
A list of available library selections
are listed in the drop down menu
titled "Lending Library Selections" in
the request form. The request form
will capture a valid credit card as a
deposit on your selection to guarantee
its return.
More selections including videos and
CDs are being added to the library.
A new twist that we will be implementing soon is "Pay it forward.” If
there is a waiting list for your selection, the first member that requests
the selection will get forwarding
labels to the next member and so on
until it is returned to the library. The
member will pay for the shipping to
the next member or back to the library. This reduces the shipping
costs of the library and reduce the
waiting time for members.
Q & A’s
Q: Is there any cost to me?
A: YES, the cost to ship the media to
another member or back to the lending library. USPS shipping costs for 3
pound package (media rate) with
delivery confirmation is $ 2.83.
Q: If I don’t return the media will I
have to pay for it.
A: YES, Nachi will charge your valid
credit card the replacement cost.
NACHI Binder Sale
Here is another style of NACHI
binders. They are Uni-Bind's trifold three ring binders with a space
big enough to keep a home owners
manual or spiral notebook in them,
plus room for your personal business card. NACHI is offering them
at cost to our members. You can
order a case of 25 @ $4 each by
sending a check for $100 to
"NACHI", P.O. Box 987, Valley
Forge, PA 19482-0987. They are
ready to ship to you now. NACHI
pays the shipping. Need a great
marketing tool? Visit:
www.nachi.org/binder.htm
the lending library?
A: NO, this is a NACHI member
only benefit.
Q: Can Canadian members use the
lending library?
A: At this time we are limited to the
US. The additional shipping costs
and extended shipping time does not
permit the lending library to be cost
and time effective. We are working
on the problem, so stay tuned. We'll
have it worked out soon.
In recognition of NACHI’s growing membership and the diligence
and professionalism of the inspectors who belong to the association,
FREA proudly accepts Nick
Gromicko’s offer of being the main
sponsor of NACHI’s largest event
of the year. FREA congratulates
NACHI on its phenomenal growth
and for providing ongoing education and setting standards of excellence within the industry.
For more information on the
NACHI annual convention being
held in Orlando Florida on February 4-8, please visit:
www.nachi.org/convention2006
(see page 1)
“We encourage all NACHI mem-
NACHI Raises Continuing Education
Requirements to 24 hours/year
With more and more free online
continuing education options being
available to NACHI members,
NACHI raised its continuing education requirements to 24 hours/
year, the highest in the industry.
Q: Is there a (daily) late fee?
A: Not at the present time. You will
receive a reminder e-mail seven days
after your due date, eight days later
you will be bill for the item. Simple
as that!
Q: If I have to pay for return shipping, can I decide how to ship it?
A: YES, FedEX, UPS or USPS
Q: If I fail to return the media and
you charge my credit card are there
any other penalties?
A: YES, you will be prohibited from
using the library for one year.
Q: How long can I borrow an item?
A: 30 days for books and 14 days for
videos or CDs.
Q: Is the lending library perfect?
A: Hell no! We will be working to
better the lending library process and
media inventory. Suggestions are
always welcome!
Q: How much media can I borrow at
one time?
A: For the time being, ONE. As additional copies are obtained the policy
can change. As soon as you have
forwarded the media you can request
another item
Q: Can non-members borrow from
About Dana Littlefield: Dana Littlefield is a NACHI member, Vice
President of NACHI's Award Committee and Deputy Fire Chief for his
town of Carrabassett Valley, Maine.
Dana volunteers as NACHI's Librarian.
Dana Littlefield
NACHI Librarian
library@nachi.org
Free Magnetic Strip I.D.
NACHI is integrating several new
infrastructure upgrades into the inspection industry, the first of which is
our new magnetic-strip photo I.D.’s
The new I.D.'s have numerous uses
and advantages over existing ones:
•
•
•
•
•
•
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•
Free to all NACHI members.
Wallet sized.
Clearer photo.
Includes signature of member.
Online I.D. order form.
Submission of photo and signature via email.
Faster turn around time.
Magnetic strip matches members existing NACHI I.D.#.
With magnetic card readers this system will eventually:
$100 off
FREA is the most reliable E & O
provider to the nation’s home inspection industry, offering the best
rates with the lowest available deductible. Additionally, FREA uses
an A++ rated carrier admitted in all
50 states.
Q: Will the librarian have access to
my credit card number?
A: NO, in the unlikely event the library needs to charge a member for
media not returned only NACHI
headquarters will have that access.
Q: How do I know I won’t be
charged for media that I forwarded to
another member or back to the library?
A: The library will be using the US
Postal Services Delivery Confirmation Receipt process (cost is $ 0.55),
we would recommend you do the
same.
InspectVue offers
NACHI members
bers to attend the ’06 convention
which is going to be an event not to
be missed” said FREA’s Managing
Director, Nigel Bonny. “We always
learn so much about the industry
when we can get out and meet inspectors face to face.”
Free Search Engine
Optimization Advice
for NACHI members
•
•
Porter Valley Software offers
NACHI members $100 off their
InspectVue home inspection
software, just for the asking.
This is an exclusive offer for
NACHI members only. Visit
their
website
at:
w ww.pvsoftware.com or their
NACHIs in-house search engine expert, Roberta Dulay, has
a new column out on Search
Engine Optimization. Submit
your questions via email to
askbetty@gmail.com, and view
her responses at:
booth at the NACHI Convention
(see page 1).
www.nachi.org/askbetty.htm
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be used for faster sign-in and
registration at NACHI's upcoming national convention.
be used at NACHI event sign-in
kiosks.
be used to permit members to
add event dinner charges to their
NACHI accounts.
be used to verify and log attendance at NACHI Chapter meetings (which count as 1-hour of
continuing education).
be used to verify and log attendance at NACHI continuing
education events.
be used to verify and log attendance at non-NACHI supplied
•
•
continuing education events.
be used in NACHI's C.M.I.
proctoring.
be used by trade show vendors
to give NACHI member discounts.
With help from the home inspection
industry vendors, Ohio Chapter President Jeff Judy, Education Consultant
Gerry Beaumont, Alicia in the membership department, IT Director Chris
Morrell, Kay our database manager,
NACHI's Major Events Coordinator
Paul Sabados, Deanna in billing, and
Idaho NACHI's V.P. Joel Doherty,
this infrastructure upgrade and industry-wide integration is underway.
However, you don't have to wait…
you can order your magnetic strip,
NACHI member I.D.#-based, photo
I.D. now online. There is no charge.
Please note that due to the overwhelming member response, the ID
cards are running about 5-6 weeks
and we anticipate being caught up by
the end of the year. Thank you for
you patience.
Questions?... or for more information
contact your fellow NACHI member
Joel Doherty at idcards@nachi.org.
NACHI... onward and upward.
To order yours at no charge visit:
www.nachi.org/sampleid.htm
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